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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



DISCOURSE 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION; 



Delivered on the Bicentenary of the Westminster 
Assembly of Divines, July, 1843. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED, 

ADVICE TO A STUDENT PREPARING FOR 
THE MINISTRY. 



By GEORGE HOWE, D. D., 

Prof, of Biblical Literature, Theol. Sem., Columbia, S. C. 



v 

NEW YORK: 

LEAVITT, TROW & CO., AND M. W. DODD. 

Boston, Crocker & Brewster ; Philad., Perkins &c Pervus j 

Columbia, S. C, S. Weir, Mr. M'Carter ; Charleston, 

D. W. Harrison, S, Hart, Sen. 



1844. 






IP 






T?\ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress - t in the year 1844, by 

LEAVITT, TROW & CO., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New-York. 



... . , . \- 



(0 
cr 

vlr 

PREFACE. 

This little book was occasioned by an 
appointment of the Presbytery of Charleston , 
which assigned to its several members sub- 
jects on which they should address the people 
at the celebration of the Bicentenary of the 
Westminster Assembly of Divines. Thes$ 
subjects embraced the whole history and 
peculiarities of the Presbyterian Church. The 
object of the Presbytery was to inform the 
churches within its bounds respecting the 
struggles of their fathers for the crown and 
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the 
faith once delivered to the saints. To the 
author was allotted the topic of the following 



PREFACE. 



discourse. Its design is to exhibit the method 
authorized by God and adopted by his church 
in past ages for the training of ministers. It 
is more appropriate to the times in which we 
live than to the special occasion on which it 
was delivered. Still it is a matter of history 
that the Presbyterian Church has ever con- 
tended for an educated ministry. The pres- 
ent method of training she adopts., is by 
means of theological schools, in which a pro- 
fessional education is superadded to the gen- 
eral one obtained at college. Doubts have 
been expressed in various quarters whether this 
is the best method, and whether it rests upon 
any divine authority. These doubts, in some 
parts of the church, disturb the efforts to build 
up those theological institutions yet struggling 
for an existence. At the same time they 



PREFACE. 5 

keep many young men at home pursuing a 
limited course of study, who would otherwise 
resort to schools and seminaries of theology. 
With a view to meet the difficulties felt by 
many, the writer has been led to investigate 
the whole subject of education for the ministry. 
The investigation has been historical in its 
nature, and has resulted in the collection of 
many facts which are recorded in these pages. 
In preparing the Discourse for the press, it 
has insensibly swelled into a little volume, and 
might have been extended still further without 
exhausting the subject. It is the hope of the 
writer that those who are interested in the 
education of our ministers, which indeed 
ought to attract the attention of all intelligent 
Christians, will give this little volume an at- 
tentive perusal. If the glory of God and the 



6 PREFACE. 

interests of the church are promoted by it, 
the writer will be sufficiently rewarded. 

The reader is referred to the table of con- 
tents for a view of the topics the work em- 
braces. After the Discourse was finished and 
sent to the press, a young friend requested of 
the author that he would draw up an outline 
of study for the use of those commencing or 
pursuing an education for the ministry. He 
expressed the feeling, which the writer recol- 
lects that he himself also had, of bewilder- 
ment and ignorance as to the proper points 
towards which he should direct his studies ; 
a feeling that was so distressing to him both 
before and after he had commenced his the- 
ological course. If he could now retrace his 
steps and pass again over the years spent in 
the seminary, with the knowledge of a young 



PREFACE. 7 

minister's wants which he now has, his pro- 
fiting would be far greater, and his time 
far better spent. Such feelings have arisen 
in every mind thirsting for knowledge. Noth- 
ing can supply the lack of experience. The 
proper method of study is to be learned by 
each one for himself. Yet the advice of 
those who have been familiar with the strug- 
gles of the student and the young minister is 
not without its value. To give such advice 
has been the writer's object in the Postscript, 
which follows as the last article appended to 
the Discourse. To it the attention of the 
young student is particularly directed. For 
those more advanced in theology a more am- 
ple course is needed, a guide at once to all 
the subjects embraced in the various depart- 
ments of sacred learning, and to all the 



8 PREFACE. 

authors who have handled these subjects. 

Such a work the Germans have in Brett- 

schneider's Systematische Entwickelung ? but so 

far as the writer knows it is yet a desideratum 

in our language. The advice of Herder to a 

student in the University which the author 

read after the greater part of the Postscript 

was written, has furnished him with some few 

hints ; the rest has arisen from the writer's 

knowledge of a student's wants, and from his 

own personal experience. 

Theological Seminary, 
Columbia, S. C.^Jul% 1844. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Occasion of the Discourse. The Church the friend of 
Learning. Example of Christ. Antediluvian Period. 
Patriarchal Age. Education of Moses and Aaron. Learn- 
ing of Egypt. Aaronical and Levitical Priesthood. Were 
they Teachers of the People 1 Their Residence and Edu^ 
cation. The Prophets. Their Number. Office of the 
Jewish Prophets. Schools of the Levites. Schools of 
the Prophets. Number of Pupils. How Supported. "The 
Man of Baal-shalisha." Sons of the Prophets. Elijah and 
Elisha. Call to the Prophetical Office. Educated Men 
appointed to this Office. The call preceded a life of Study, 
Studies and exercises of the Prophetic Schools. Prophets 
resorted to by the People for Religious Instruction. School 
and Synagogue. Studies of the Prophetic Schools further 
considered. Influence of these Institutions. Other Teach- 
ers. The Scribes . Lawyers, The Synagogues, Their 
number. Officers of the Synagogue. Their Education. 
Schools. Schools of Divinity. Title of Rabbi. Cere- 
mony of Graduation. Houses of Study. Number of 
Schools. Conclusion, . . . pp. 13-43* 

CHAPTER II. 

Education of John the Baptist. His Influence, Elo- 
quence, and Greatness, Education of the Twelve Apos* 



10 CONTENTS, 

ties. Matthias. Paul His Birth-place. Testimony of 
Strabo. Education of Paul. His proficiency. His occu* 
pation. Luke. Paul and Luke wrote the largest portions 
of the New Testament. Apollos. His Learning and Edu- 
cation. Timothy and Titus students of Paul. Mosheim's 
Opinion, Office of didaoy.aXoq. Their Duties, Order, 
Rank. The Apostles Teachers of Theology. Polycarp. 
Papias. Quadratus. Polycarp's Reminiscences of John, 
Were Schools of Theology established by the Apostles 1 
School of Alexandria. Its origin. Its Teachers. Course 
of Study. Testimony of Gregory Thaumaturgus. Of 
Clemens Alexandrinus, Origem Labours of Origen. 
Extent to which Education was carried. Length of time 
■spent in Study. Government and control of the Alexan- 
drian School. Female Pupils. Origen's Support. His 
friend Ambrose, Pamphilus and the Seminary at Ceesarea, 
Seminary at Antioch. Library and Schoolat Jerusalem. 
At Edessa. Seleucia. Nisibis. Rome. Learned Educa- 
tion of the Early Fathers. Justin. Arnobius. Julian 
the Apostate, His Edict respecting the Schools, pp. 44-8Q. 

CHAPTER IIL 

Cathedral Schools. Meaning of the word Cathedral- 
Patronage of Constantine. Conventual Schools. Con- 
Vent of Iona. Was a Theological Seminary. St. Columba, 
British Monasteries-. Missionary Labours of the Culdees. 
Their Sentiments. Their Opposition to Rome. Origin 
and meaning of their Name. Other Culdee Establishments* 
At Bangor. At Armagh. Universities. University of 
Paris. The Sorbonne. Ignorance of the Monks. The 
Reformers Professors in Universities and Schools of 



CONTENTS. II 

Theology. The Study of the Hebrew and Greek Scrip- 
tures. The Five Universities of the Huguenots in France. 
Presbyterians of Holland. Westminster Assembly. The 
Non-Conformists. The Dissenting Academies. Their 
Course of Study. The Pilgrim Fathers. Harvard Uni- 
versity. Yale. Dartmouth. Princeton. The Theological 
Character of our Earlier Colleges. Earliest Ministers of 
the Presbyterian Church in America. The Log College. 
Fogg's Manor. Newark Academy. College of New 
Jersey. Dr. Witherspoon. Theological Seminary at 
New- York. At Andover. Expectations of its Founders. 
Theological Seminary at Princeton. The American 
System, . . . . pp. 83-111. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Ministry of the Church has always been an Edu- 
cated Ministry. The Hebrew Prophets. The Prophet 
and the Holy Spirit. Influence of Sanctified Learning. 
Heresies of the Learned. The Heresies of Ignorance. 
Influence of a Learned Ministry at the Reformation. 
Reasons why Ministers should be Men of Learning. They 
have been educated in each other's society. Advantages 
of a Public Education. Examples to the contrary con- 
sidered. Theological Schools of great utility to the Church. 
Theological Literature. Extracts ftom Dr. Chalmers. 
Origin of Grecian and Roman Literature. Authorship in 
Scotland and Germany. Other Protestant Countries. 
The United* States. Endowments. Permanence in Office. 
Time spent at places of Education by Eminent Scholars, 
Want of Ministers leads to the founding of Colleges and 
Seminaries. By whom endowed. Objections. Danger 



12 CONTENTS. 

of Perversion. Standards of the Presbyterian Church. 
American plan of Education. Dissenters' Academies. 
The German Method. The English Method. Scotch 
Method. Not satisfactory to the Scotch themselves. Other 
Objections. Education too Professional. Beneficiaries, 
Charitable Foundations. Alleged tendency to Conniption, 
Origin of Heresies. Cause of the low state of Ministerial 
Attainment. Number of Students of Divinity in Scotland. 
Responsibilities of Church Courts. Qualification of Students. 
Address to Teachers of Theology, .. pp. 112-152, 
APPENDIX A. 

Mode of Education in the Dissenting Academies of 
England, . ■ . . . pp. 153-172. 

APPENDIX B. 

Provisions for the Education of the Ministry in the 
Presbyterian and Dissenting Churches of England, Scot- 
land, Ireland, and Wales, . . pp. 173-188. 

APPENDIX C. 

The support furnished by the Churches of the Reforma- 
tion to poor Students, . . . pp. 189-194. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

Directions to a Student preparing for the Ministry. 
Preparatory Studies, .... pp. 195-207. 
Studies of the First Year, . . .pp. 207-222. 
Studies of the Second Year, . . pp. 223-234 
Studies of the Third Year, . . pp. 234-243, 



DISCOURSE 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 



CHAPTER T. 

" And it came to pass, that after three days they found 
him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both 
hearing them and asking them questions. And Jesus in- 
creased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God 
and man." Luke ii. 46. 

Two hundred years ago, on the first of July, 
the Convocation of the Westminster Assembly 
of Divines was held in the Abbey Church at 
Westminster in England. The Bicentenary 
anniversary of this event having arrived, and it 
being the desire of the Presbytery that this event 
should be worthily commemorated, subjects have 
been assigned the several members of that body, 
on which they should address the people in con- 
nection with this commemoration. In this as- 
signment it has fallen to my lot to speak on the 
subject of Theological Education, and the best 
2 



14 DISCOURSE ON 

method of pursuing it. For, from the beginning, 
it has been true of our church, that it has high- 
ly appreciated the advantages of education, and 
thought much of learning as the handmaid of 
religion. The Assembly of Divines was itself a 
body of thoroughly educated men, embracing a 
portion of the ripest scholars the world has ever 
.seen. And the men of influence amongst us, in 
all ages, have been such as united ardour of piety 
with discipline of mind and extent of know- 
ledge. The present has been judged a fitting 
occasion for reviewing the history of the Church 
from the beginning, that we may ascertain in 
what manner its teachers have been trained, and 
what degree of approbation Christ our Head has 
bestowed upon a learned preparation for posts of 
usefulness in his kingdom on earth. 

It behooves us to speak reverently of our ador- 
able Redeemer, and to confess that his manifes- 
tation in the flesh is the mystery of godliness. 
Yet did he possess a truly human and finite na- 
ture, as well as one truly infinite and divine. And 
while in the last, his works were known unto him 
from the beginning, and there could be no in- 
crease in any of his perfections; in the former, 
that is, in his human nature, he increased in know- 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 15 

ledge and in favour with God and man. At twelve 
years of age, he loitered behind at Jerusalem, to 
gratify his thirst for knowledge, ^nd his love for 
the truths of God. He permitted the caravan of 
his friends and kindred to return without him, 
and his anxious parents, after long search, found 
him at the school of sacred learning which was 
held in a room belonging to the treasury 1 of the 
Temple, " sitting in the midst of the doctors, 
both hearing them and asking them questions." 
We do not say that our Saviour resorted to 
the schools of the scribes and teachers as a reg- 
ular pupih This is refuted rather than other- 
wise, by some allusions in the Scriptures^ Nor 
do we wish to maintain that those traditions 
which have been handed down to this effect re- 
specting his childhood have aught of truth. 3 Yet 
does it seem to us that he did by this act show 
a respect to the labours of these teachers, and 
point out the school of sacred learning as a place 

1 Basnage AmiaL EccL i. p. 206. See Wolfius, Curs 
Philol. 

2 John vii. 15. 

3 Gospel of the Infancy of Christ. Thilo. Codex Apoc- 
jyphus N. T. cap. xlix., and Archbp. Wake's translation, 
djap. xx. 



16 DISCOURSE ON 

where it behooved a youth, who desired to do the 
will of God, to be employed, as a place of pres- 
ent enjoyment,' and of preparation for usefulness 
through life. And in the years of his public 
ministry, when censuring severely the doctrines 
of the scribes, he was careful to maintain the 
utility and authority of the office they held. 
" The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses* seat : 
all therefore which they bid you observe, that 
observe and do ; but do not ye after their works : 
for they say and do not." 1 

It will probably present this subject most fair- 
ly before our view, if we first inquire of the sa- 
cred Scriptures what is the mind and will of 
God as to the education of his ministers. 

God had a ministry before the Flood, among 
whom Enoch and Noah are both mentioned, one 
as a prophet, and the other as a " preacher of 
righteousness." But the history of those times 
is so extremely brief, as barely to inform us that 
God had a seed to serve him, which, through a 
long tract of years, kept itself estranged from an 
ungodly world, and met together for his worship. 
At length, intermarrying with the daughters of 
men, its purity was corrupted, it ceased to be the 

1 Matt, xxiii. 2, 2 Jude 14, 2 Pet. ii, 5. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 17 

salt of the earth and the light of the world ; crime, 
violence, and bloodshed ravaged the globe, until 
the church was reduced to a single family, and 
that family, with the only preacher of righteous- 
ness who then existed, was enclosed in the ark 
that it might be perserved from extinction. 

The Patriarchal age must also be passed over, 
in which the head of each family was teacher 
and priest to his household, and to all his 
descendants while he lived. But when God 
would call forth his chosen people from Egyp- 
tian bondage, and settle them in a more perfect 
ecclesiastical state, he raised up Moses, and caus- 
ed him, in his providence, to become learned in 
all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He received 
that education which was suited to the rank he 
held as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. 1 
And Egypt at that time was the most learned 
and cultivated of nations, to which Greece, at a 
period long subsequent, was not ashamed to owe 
her philosophy, and to ascribe the first germs of 
her literature, since so valued and sought by 
the nations of the earth. Nor will the learning 

1 Heb. xi. 25. Acts vii. 22. On the learning of Moses, 
see Stillingfleet, Orig. Sac. i. p. 108, et. seq. Philo. Jud. 
Vit. Moses, ii. p. 84. 

2* 



18 DISCOURSE ON 

and refinement of Moses be despised by those 
who have considered the splendid monuments of 
grandeur and skill which ancient Egypt has left 
behind her, or admired those evidences of her 
progress in all the arts of peace which have of late 
years been discovered. 1 It cannot be true, it is 
presumed, that the parentage of Moses remain- 
ed unknown at the court of Pharaoh. It could 
not always be concealed : and it is reasonable 
to suppose that Aaron, a man whose eloquence is 
commended by God, and who for this reason 
was appointed to be the spokesman of Moses, 2 
shared with his more distinguished brother in 
intellectual culture, and the means of know- 
ledge. It could hardly be, when one member of 
a family had a high education, that another mem- 
ber of the same family, afterwards appointed to a 
station no less honourable than his, should be 
entirely ignorant. Miriam their sister was an 
accomplished poetess, and was even sometimes 
honoured with divine revelations. 3 We have rea- 
son to believe that Aaron, the head of the Jewish 
priesthood, was scarcely less a man of learning 

1 1 Kings iv. 30. Is. xix. 11, 12. "Wilkinson's Ancient 
Egyptians. Rosellini Monumenti dell' Egitto e della Nubia. 

2 Exod. iv. 14. 3 Exod. xv. 20, 21. Numb. xii. 2. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 19 

than Moses himself, whom he certainly excelled 
in those gifts of speech so essential to one ap- 
pointed to be a teacher of the people. 

Aaron thus qualified, with his sons, God ap- 
pointed to the priestly office, and there were 
given to assist them the whole tribe of Levi, to 
which both Moses and Aaron belonged. This 
tribe was substituted in place of the first born 
of each family, whom, under the patriarchal dis- 
pensation, God had designated as the priest of 
the household. 1 In choosing men of such attain- 
ments and gifts as belonged to Moses and Aaron. 
God showed what their successors in all acres 

o 

should be. 

It has indeed been contended that it was not 
the duty of the Jewish priests to teach, but to 
sacrifice, and perform other rites enjoined by the 
law of Moses. It has been said that the only 
way they taught was by the types and ceremo- 
nies they continually presented to the eye of the 
people. 2 But the contrary is gathered from those 
passages of Scripture in which it is said that 
" the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and 
they should seek the law at his mouth : for he is 

1 Numb. iii. 12, 13. 2 Michaelis Com. on the Laws 
of Moses, vol. i. art. Jahn's Archaeology, § 377. 



20 DISCOURSE ON 

the messenger of the Lord of Hosts." 1 Moses 
also says of the sons of Levi, " they shall teach 
Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law. 5 ' 2 Is- 
rael is spoken of in a season of great declen- 
sion as being " without the true God, and with- 
out a teaching priest ." 3 In Hosea the people 
are represented as " destroyed for lack of know- 
ledge," and this through the ignorance and fault 
of the priests. 4 And in Micah the priests are 
accused as " teaching for hire," which is charg- 
ing them with perverting their office of teach- 
ers for the purposes of gain. 5 At the season 
of declension just mentioned, Jehoshaphat, a 
pious king, sent Levites and priests " through- 
out all the cities of Judah," " and they taught in 
Judah, and had the book of the law with 
them, and taught the people." 6 And when Ezra 
the scribe, after the captivity, erected his "pul- 
pit of wood " and read the law to the people in 
their ancient tongue, which they had now for- 
gotten, the Levites instructed the people and 
caused them to understand the law. 7 

These priests and Levites resided in forty-eight 

1 Mai. ii. 7. 2 Deut. xxxiii. 10. 3 2 Chron. *xv. 3. 
4 Hos. iv. 6. 5 Chap. iii. 11. 6 2 Chron. xvii. 7-9. 
7 Neh. viii. 4-11. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 21 

cities, which were located at different points 
throughout the land ; six of which were cities of 
refuge. They resided in these communities by 
divine appointment, principally that they might 
have a better opportunity for mutual instruction 
and consultation. 

But the most remarkable class of religious 
teachers under the ancient economy were the 
prophets. The frequent allusions to them in the 
Scriptures show that, at certain times at least, they 
existed in considerable numbers. In the days of 
Elijah, when Jezebel had decreed that the pro- 
phets of the Lord should be destroyed, Obadiah, 
the governor of the house of Ahab, took an hun- 
dred prophets and hid them in caves, and saw their 
wants supplied. These hundred prophets were, 
we suppose, a part only of the whole number in 
the land. 

The prophets were the divines, instructors, 
and guides of the Hebrews in piety and virtue. 1 
They resided oftentimes in some retired place, 
where they were resorted to by the people, at 
the new-moons and other stated periods, for con- 
sultation and instruction in things pertaining to 
God. They were supported by the free gifts of 

1 Aug. de Civitate Dei, xviii. 4L 



22 



DISCOURSE ON 



the people, and held themselves aloof from all 
worldly employments, devoting their whole time 
to instruction, study, meditation, and prayer. 

The first seminaries or places of instruction 
among the Jewish people were the cities of the 
Levites. The curse pronounced upon Levi by 
Jacob his father, 1 " that he should be divided 
in Jacob and scattered in Israel," was thus 
changed into a blessing. In every tribe these 
Levitical cities were found, and the means of 
education for the Levitical office existed ; nor 
is it certain that others did not share in the ad- 
vantages of instruction with the sons of Levi. 2 

1 Gen. xlix. 7. 

2 " From the very first platforming of the church of Is- 
rael, the tribe of Levi was set apart for the public ministry, 
to attend upon the altar at Jerusalem, and to teach the 
people up and down the nation ; and for the better fitting of 
them for teaching, they had eight and forty cities allotted 
them. These cities were so many universities, where the 
ministerial tribe, distributed in companies, studied the law, 
became learned ; and thence scattered through the whole 
nation, dispersed learning and the knowledge of the law 
in all the synagogues. 

" Two things are, not without good reason, to be observed 

here, which perhaps are not seriously enough observed by all. 

f( I, The settled ministry of the church of Israel was not 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 23 

But after the race of prophets arose who were 
to succeed Moses/ there arose also the schools 
of the prophets, in diverse places both of Israel 
and Judah. There was a noted school of this 
kind at Naioth, near Ramah, the residence of 
Samuel, over which he presided. 2 There was 

prophets, but priests and Levites. Mai. ii. 7. For it was 
not seldom when there were no prophets ; and the pro- 
phets send the people to the priests for instruction, Hag. 
ii. 11, and Malachi in the place mentioned already. 

" II. That tithes were granted to the priests and Levites, 
not only when they ministered at the altar or in the 
temple ; but when they studied in the universities and 
preached in the synagogues. Behold the method of God's 
own institution. God choose th Israel to be a peculiar 
people to himself; to this chosen people he gives a law 
and a clergy : on the clergy he enjoins the study of the 
law : to their studies he suits academical societies : on the 
universities he bestows lands and tithes : on the syna- 
gogues he bestows tithes and university men."—- Light- 
foot's Works : Pitman's Ed., vol. v. p. 120, x. p. 174. 

1 Deut. xviii. 15. 

2 Naioth seems to have been a place at some distance 
from the town, furnishing that retirement which was best 
suited to a life of study. Vatablus says it was built in the 
fields of Ramah ; and Naioth, according to Pet. Martyr, 
signifies pastures, and some remote places, qua fere sunt 
studiis aptissima. According to Gesenius, the word signi- 
fies habitations; and if this be the meaning > it may refer to 



24 DISCOURSE ON 

another at Bethel, 1 and another at Jericho, in 
which Elijah, and after him Elisha, was presi- 
dent and teacher. 2 Another of these schools 
existed at Gilgal, where the "sons of the pro- 
phets" are represented as " sitting before Eli- 
sha." 3 And not in Israel only, but in Judah 
likewise was God known. There was a college 
in Jerusalem where " Huldah the prophetess " 
dwelt. 4 And it has been thought that Gad, Na- 

edifices erected for the residence of men devoted to the 
pursuit of sacred learning. The Chaldee Paraphrast ren- 
ders Naioth by the words KSS^lfc* H^D house of learning. 
See 1 Sam. xix. 20. 

1 lSam.x.3. 2 2 Kings ii. 3, 5, 7, 15. 3 2 Kings iv. 38. 

4 2 Kings xxii. 14, and 2 Chron. xxxiv. 22 : " Now she 
dwelt in Jerusalem in the college." The marginal reading 
of our version is in the second part, i. e. of the city ; which 
also seems to be approved by the modern critics. See 
Ges. Lexicon on the word «l.?tt?^. Of the ancient ver- 
sions, the LXX treat the Hebrew word which is translated 
college as a proper name — iv rrj M.aaev<p. The Targum of 
Jonathan translates 505?^ t"^5? in the house of in- 
struction. The Syr. |Za.ljJ£uS in the repetition, i. e. 

probably, in the place of recitation. There seems to have 
been a place near the temple, or within it, where the 
learned men met to confer together respecting the law and 
the prophets, called by the Rabbins ti*ViBri r^3. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 25 

than, Heman, and Jeduthun were teachers in 
such institutions ; that they selected the most 
promising of the young Levites, and the Naza- 
rites, with those who seemed called of God to 
the office of the prophet, and trained them up in 
those habits of intellectual culture, and that ac- 
quaintance with the word of God, which would 
qualify them for usefulness in their future lives. 
The number of pupils in these schools was 
by no means small. Fifty men of the sons of 
the prophets stood to view afar off when Elijah 
smote the waters of the Jordan with his mantle, 
and when he ascended to heaven in a chariot of 
fire. 1 They lived together in the same dwelling, 
which under Elishathey were obliged to enlarge 
because the place became too strait for them ; 
they ate at the same table, 2 and were supported 
in a great measure by the voluntary contribu- 
tions of the people of God. The man of Baal- 
shalisha, in a season of famine, brought to Eli- 
sha, at the school in Gilgal, " bread of the first 
fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears of 
corn," which the prophet ordered his servant to 
set before the sons of the prophets that they 
might eat. From the exclamation of the ser- 

1 2 Kings ii. 7, 16. 2 2 Kings vi. 1, iv. 38. 
3 



26 DISCOURSE ON 

rant we learn that there were at that time one 
hundred men members of the school. 1 

These scholars were called sons of the pro- 
phets, as among the Greeks students of medi- 
cine were called " sons of the physicians," 2 
and were accustomed to address the prophet 
who taught them, by the name Father. Thus 
Elisha, the pupil of Elijah, called his former in- 
structor, at the moment when he was snatched 
away from him, " My Father ! My Father ! 
The chariot of Israel and the horsemen there- 
of!" Thus, while he lamented over his own 
great loss, expressing his sense of the impor- 
tance of Elijah's influence over the nation, by 
calling him the chariot and horsemen which 
defended Israel ; giving utterance in these words 
to that pregnant truth, that religious knowledge 
and true piety are a better defence to a nation 
than all the armaments of war. 3 

1 2 Kings i. 42, 43. 2 iarp&v viol, SO also prjropoiv vloi, 
" sons ofthe orators." 

3 " The chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof !" or 
" Thou wast Israel's artillery and cavalry ;" its glittering 
legion and its invincible host. Think only of the fire from 
heaven which this prophet, in his zeal for the house of the 
Lord, called down upon the adversaries of God and his 
people ; think of the dreadful defeat, which, as with the 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 27 

It was God's ordinary method to call to the 
prophetical office those who had been educated 
in these schools. When the call fell upon other 
persons not so educated, it is mentioned as 
something out of the ordinary course of the 
divine administration. Amos was so called. 
He says, " I was no prophet, neither was I a 
prophet's son," i. e., was not educated in the 
prophetic schools ; " but I was a husbandman, 
and a gatherer of sycamore fruits; and the 
Lord took me as I followed the flock ; and the 
Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy to my people 
Israel." 1 And in Zechariah 2 the false prophets, 

waving of his hand, he brought upon the destroyers of his 
peace at Mount Carmel. He spoke, and the horse and his 
rider stood as if struck with thunder. He threatened, and 
tyrants shrunk back, pale and silent at his rebuke. He 
commanded in the name of God, and fire and sword united 
their force to destroy from the earth a whole royal race, 
because it had taken the field against the kingdom of the 
Lord. He was wroth in spirit, and his anger became a 
blazing flame, which consumed a whole host of lying 
priests from the land of Israel. More terrible was he to 
Ahab and to Jezebel, in his invisible armor, than a whole 
host of Syrians and Philistines. The phalanx of Israel 
and its bulwark was now removed."— Krummacher t Elijah 
the Tishbite, p. 372. 

1 Amos vii, 14, 15. 2 xiii, 5, 



28 DISCOURSE ON 

being in danger of a signal retribution for their 
fraud and presumption, disclaim utterly the 
prophetic office. In doing so they mention, to 
establish their assertion, that they had not en- 
joyed a prophetic education. "I am a hus- 
bandman ; for man taught me to keep cattle 
from my youth." The prophetic spirit did not 
ordinarily fall upon any except such as had pass- 
ed through this preparatory discipline ; hence 
the admiration and surprise which was occa- 
sioned by Saul's being made to prophesy, which 
gave rise to the proverb, " Is Saul also among 
the prophets." L 

Whether the call to the prophetic office was 
before or after their education, seems not en- 
tirely certain ; but if we may judge from the case 
of Elisha, it preceded a devotion to a life of 
study, as is ordinarily the case now. " Elisha 
was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen before 
him, and he with the twelfth : and Elijah passed 
by him, and cast his mantle over him." 2 Elisha 
at once left all secular employments, became 
the attendant and disciple of Elijah; seems to 
have assisted him in presiding over the prophet- 
ical schools, and in about ten years from the 

1 1 Sam. x. 1% 19. 2 1 Kings xix. 19—21, 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 29 

time of his call became his successor in the 
presidency of the same. 

The education the sons of the prophets went 
through, seems to have consisted in the study 
of the divine law, and also, in a great measure, 
in those exercises of devotion, by which their 
piety was nurtured and increased. We often 
read of them as engaged in praising God and 
prophesying " with a psaltery, a tabret and pipe, 
and a harp before them." 1 

1 1 Sam. x. 5. These exercises of the prophetical 
schools are well explained by Stillingfleet. " I confess/' 
says he, " it carries the highest probability with it, that this 
prophesying with musical instruments was at their places 
and times of sacrifices an adjunct, if not a part of the sol- 
emn service of God ; which was man'aged chiefly by the 
choir of the sons of the prophets which were resident 
there, and were trained up in all exercises of piety and de- 
votion. Yet I cannot see any reason to think that all this 
prophesying was merely singing of hymns, and playing 
upon their musical instruments to them, as some ima- 
gine ; because there seems to be implied some imme- 
diate impulses of a prophetic spirit, by which Samuel 
said to Saul, that when he came among the prophets, the 
Spirit of the Lord would come upon him, and he should 
prophesy with them, and he should become another man. 
* * * Others think, that those who are said particularly to 
prophesy at these music meetings, were some persons as 

3* 



30 DISCOURSE ON 

The prophetical impulse might descend tem- 
porarily upon one not truly pious, as was the 

chief among the rest, who, having their spirits elevated by 
the music, did compose hymns upon the place by a divine 
energy inwardly moving their minds ; so that there were 
properly divine raptures in some of them, which trans- 
ported them beyond the ordinary power of fancy or imagi- 
nation, in dictating such hymns as might be suitable for 
the design of celebrating the honour of God. 

" Neither may it seem strange that such an enthusiastic 
spirit should seize on them only at such solemn times, 
since we read in the New Testament of a like exercise of 
such gifts in the church of Corinth, 1 Cor. xiv. 26, where 
we see in coming together every one had a psalm, a doc- 
trine, a tongue, a revelation, &c. ; whereby it appears that 
they were inspired upon the place, etiam extemporales 
hymni soepe ah afflatu erant, as Grotius there observes ; as 
we see it in frequent instances in Scripture of Simeon and 
Anna, Moses and Miriam, Deborah and Isaiah ; and in the 
Christian church, after that land-flood of inspired gifts was 
much abated in the church, they kept up a custom much 
like to these extemporal hymns, as appears evidently by 
Tertullian, post aquam manualem et lumina ut quisque de 
scripturis Sanctis vel de proprio ingenio potest, provocatur 
in medium Deo canere. After they had ended their love- 
feasts they begun their hymns, which were either taken 
from the Scriptures, or of their own composition : which 
Pliny takes notice of as a great part of Christian worship, 
that they did secum invicem carmen Christo quasi Deo 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 31 

case with Balaam, with Caiaphas, and Saul. It 
might descend upon one not trained by disci- 
pline. But when to the special influence of the 
Spirit of God, were added a character of eminent 
piety, and a mind filled with intelligence re- 
specting all things desirable for men to know, 
who taught the people and stood before kings as 
counsellors in matters of state, it is plain their 
influence with men would be the more com- 
manding; and that to the reverence they would 
have for them, as moved by the Holy Ghost, 
there would be added the awe which true holi- 
ness inspires ; and that respect which know- 
ledge is sure to command. Their original ge- 
nius and previous education is perceived in 
their style, though this was doubtless greatly 
heightened in all its qualities of force and beau- 
ty by the Divine influence under which they 
wrote. For the apostle Peter informs us with 
particularity and emphasis that holy men of old 
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 
Their education would assist them to know 
what counsel to give, when not under the 

dicere, — they joined in singing hymns to Christ as God' 
Stilling fleet, Orig. Sac. vol. i. pp. 144, 145. See also 
Krummacher, Elijah the Tishhite, p. 333. 



32 DISCOURSE ON 

prophetic impulse, while the Holy Spirit, whose 
special operation seems not to have been con- 
stant, would reveal to them future events which 
it was important for the church to understand ; 
and those sublime truths which it was impossi- 
ble that human reason should ever discover. 

The residences of prophets were the resort 
of the people for religious instruction, especially 
at those times when degeneracy had crept into 
the priestly and Levitical orders. The Shu- 
namite's husband asks her, " wherefore she 
would go to the man of God that day, seeing it 
was neither New Moon nor Sabbath;" 1 thus 
showing that on these days of religious worship 
it was her practice to resort thither. From this 
circumstance, probably, the place of public 
teaching was called " the hill of God;" 2 and 
from its also being the place of the prophetic 
school, " the hill of the teacher." 3 These 
schools and places of worship, we judge to 
have been the original of those synagogues 
which were erected after the captivity, and 
which in their turn became the model of the 

1 2 Kings iv. 33. 2 1 Sam. x. 5. 3 Judges vii. 1, the 
hill of Moreh(miE). 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 33 

Christian churches under the gospel. This as- 
sociation of places of religious instruction for 
the people at large, with places of education for 
persons training for stations in the church, may 
have been the reason why schools were connect- 
ed with the synagogues at a subsequent period 
of Jewish history. For we find that it became 
the practice to attend the worship of the syna- 
gogue on the morning of the Sabbath, and to 
resort to the school in the evening to hear a 
lecture from the presiding Rabbi. 

These schools of the prophets we have now 
described are called by Lightfoot, 1 " univer- 
sities and colleges of students." But in our 
view they resemble in some principal points the 
Theological Seminaries of the present day far 
more than they do our institutions for general 
education. " The study which chiefly occupied 
these sons of the prophets, was doubtless that 
of the Divine Word ; and the tongues of their 
teachers were as ' the pen of a ready writer/ 
Undoubtedly they were employed upon the posi- 
tive meaning and practical import of Divine 
revelation. If sacred history were the subject 
of their discourse, it was doubtless for the pur« 

1 Works, vol. x. p. 174. 



34 DISCOURSE ON 

pose of tracing, in some edifying manner, the 
footsteps of Jehovah ; or of concluding from 
things past upon those which were future. 
Then the mysteriesofthe Aaronic priesthood and 
of the ceremonial law, we may suppose, formed 
another subject of instruction in the schools of 
the prophets. Thus, the bleeding Lamb of God, 
that was to bear and take away the sins of the 
world, might be presented to them in the exposi- 
tion of the sacrificial institutions. Moreover, as 
their religious and civil codes were intermin- 
gled, especially under the theocracy, the one 
would not be studied without the other : neither 
can we suppose the study of their own language 
would be neglected, especially as it was the most 
sacred tongue in the world. Their studies 
would also be connected with devotion, very 
differently from the popular studies of the pres- 
ent day. The spirit would be sought after, and 
not merely the letter. The depths of true wis- 
dom would be sounded ; and thus, treasures of 
things new and old would be brought forth by 
sanctified intellect. These institutions provided 
the country with many enlightened teachers. 
And, even had they not done so, still their very 
existence answered a high and holy purpose. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 35 

They were the depositories of Israelitish light 
and justice ; they shone as luminaries in a 
crooked and perverse nation ; and reproved 
apostacy more severely by their example, than 
could have been done by the most power- 
ful language. Their quiet but mighty influ- 
ence served to oppose the influence of surround- 
ing heathen darkness. They were also a spirit- 
ual asylum, wherein spiritual mourners might 
find instruction, comfort, and peace. And who 
shall say what streams of living waters, from 
these fountains of Israel, refreshed and fertil- 
ized the country at large !" " The Lord was 
pleased to have ready such assemblies of his 
saints, from which, when he saw good, he 
might select a messenger for himself, endowed 
with all human preparatives, whenever these 
were deemed requisite." 1 

Besides the Priests, Levites, and Prophets, we 
read of other teachers which existed in the Jew- 
ish Church in the times of our Saviour, appa- 
rently with the Divine sanction, and probably 
by the Divine appointment. These were the 
scribes and the various officers of the syna- 
gogues. In the synagogues Christ and the 

1 Krummacher,pp. 332, 333,334. 



36 



DISCOURSE ON 



apostles taught and acknowledged the authority 
of the officers presiding over them. And of the 
scribes our Saviour said, " The scribes and 
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat : all therefore what- 
soever they bid you observe, that observe and 
do ; but do ye not after their works : for they 
say and do not." 

The Sopherim or scribes are met with in the 
sacred writings previous to the captivity. The 
verb ^S& signifies to number and to ivrite — "iSio 
is the Hebrew word for book. The scribes, 
therefore, were persons employed in some way 
about books, writings, or accounts ; in tran- 
scribing, reading, explaining, or correcting 
them. There were, however, scribes civil and 
scribes ecclesiastical. In the earlier Scriptures 
the ^sb is the secretary of state, who issues the 
royal commissions. Sometimes the Sopherim 
seem to have been military officers, inspectors- 
general of the army. In the later writings, the 
Sopher or scribe is one skilled in the Scriptures, 
one learned in the law. It is said of Ezra that 
he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, 
which the Lord God of Israel had given. 1 It 
is with these scribes ecclesiastical alone that 

1 Ezra vii. 6. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 61 

we are now concerned. These alone we recog- 
nize in the ygafifiajug of the New Testament. 
Their office grew gradually, though rapidly, into 
importance, after the common people had ceased 
to be acquainted with the Hebrew, in which the 
Jewish Scriptures were written. And the in- 
fluence of these scribes, as we see from the 
New Testament, was almost boundless. Ac- 
cording to Lightfoot,' &OS&, scribe, in the Tal- 
muds denotes a learned man, and in this sense is 
opposed to the word ^15, rude or illiterate. But 
more particularly the Sopherim or scribes were 
such as, being of learned and scholastic educa- 
tion, addicted themselves to the interpretation 
of the sacred Scriptures. " Upon the whole," 
says Jennings, 2 " the scribes were the preach- 
ing clergy among the Jews, and while the priests 
attended the sacrifices, they instructed the peo- 
ple." The vofiwol and vo^odidacrxaloi, lawyers 
and teachers of the law, so often mentioned in 
the New Testament, are the same class of per- 
sons. These scribes were not confined to any 
tribe. Nor were the learned teachers of the 
people necessarily of priestly descent. " Out 

1 Works, xi. p. 40. xii. p. 94. 2 Jewish Antiquities, 
p. 203. 

4 



38 



DISCOURSE ON 



of Zebulun came they that handled the pen of 
the writer." 1 Hillel was of the tribe of Judah; 
Rabbi Simeon, and Gamaliel the teacher of 
Paul, and Paul himself, were of the tribe of 
Benjamin. 2 

The synagogues were the models before the 
earliest Christians, according to which, by the 
Spirit's guidance, the first churches were form- 
ed. Thrice a year only did the Jews go up to 
the temple at Jerusalem to worship. The ordi- 
nary worship of the Sabbath was performed 
elsewhere, and these synagogues, of which 'the 
land was full, are the places where on every 
Sabbath day the people were assembled for the 
ordinary worship of God. According to the 
Talmud, wherever there were ten Batlanim, or 
men of leisure, who would be responsible for the 
synagogue service, there a synagogue might be 
erected. 3 According to some passages in the 
Talmudic books, there were 460, according to 
others 480, in the single city of Jerusalem. 4 
Making every allowance for Jewish hyperbole, 
we are still forced to believe that these places of 



1 Judges v. 14. 2 Lightfoot, v. 120. 3 Ibid. xi. 87, 91. 
4 Ibid. x. 74. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 39 

religious worship and instruction were very 
numerous, 

These synagogues had their officers, the prin- 
cipal of whom are copied in the pastor, elders, 
and deacons of the Christian church. The ruler 
of the synagogue, aQxcvvvaybr/og, 1 presided over 
the assembly, and it was necessary that he should 
be a learned man 2 and set apart by ordination 
to his office. And as the Christian churches 
were formed upon the model of the synagogue, 
and mostly of persons who had been educated as 
Jews, what other view could they have had of 
the Christian ministry than that it should be a 
learned ministry. And as they were accustomed 
to have their graver matters of faith and disci- 
pline decided by a supreme judicature, the Great 
Sanhedrim, which was composed of educated 
men, it was necessary, to secure their respect 3 
that the Presbyteries and Synods of the Christian 
church should be composed, at least in a great 
degree, of men of cultivated mind. 

Now the education of these several classes of 
men was effected by a long course of severe 
study. Schools of all kinds existed every where 
among the Jewish people. In every city and 

1 Luke viii, 49, 2 Lightfoot xl 95, v, 122, 



40 DISCOURSE ON 

town, there was a school where children were 
taught to read the law; and if the establishment 
of these schools was neglected for any length of 
time, the men of the place were excommunicated 
until such time as a school was erected. 1 Be- 
sides these there were Midhrashoth rvittfTiB 

t : • 

or schools of divinity, where the law was taught 
to those who resorted to them, and a thorough 
course of study in Jewish learning was pursued. 
The two famous and rival schools of Hillel and 
Schammai are the earliest of this special charac- 
ter of which we read in history, though other 
learned doctors doubtless preceded them. These 
Rabbins, whose scholars were always in conflict, 
differed in their mode of interpreting the law, 
Hillel enforcing obedience to its spirit, and 
Schammai to its letter. The grandson of Hillel 
was Gamaliel, the teacher of Paul the apostle. 
The forms and arrangements of these schools 
have been handed down to us. The teacher was 
accustomed to sit on an elevated platform raised 
as high as the heads of his pupils. Hence it is 
said of Paul that he was brought up at the feet 
of Gamaliel. 2 The teacher, at least in later times, 
had himself been previously educated in the 

1 Lightfoot, v. 42. 2 Jennings's Jewish Antiq. p. 281. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 41 

schools, and by a formal ceremony had received 
the degree of Rabbi. This title was first con- 
ferred upon Simon the son of Hillel, 1 but after- 
wards became, like the title Doctor of Philosophy 
in the Universities of Germany, and Master of 
Arts in our own, a common literary distinction. 
When a person had gone through the schools, 
and was thought worthy of the honour, he was 
seated in a chair elevated above the company, a 
key and tablets were given to him, he was or- 
dained by imposition of hands performed by 
delegates of the Sanhedrim, 2 and then he was 
proclaimed by the title Rabbi. The imposition 
of hands was sometimes, however, omitted. The 
tablets denoted that he had attained these honours 
by diligent attendance upon the lectures of the 
Doctors, while the key was the symbol of his 
authority to teach; it was "the key of know- 
ledge," and was afterwards worn by him as a 
badge of honour. 3 These schools were held in 

1 Jennings's Jewish Antiq. p. 210. Lightfoot, xi. 278. 

2 Lightfoot, v. 121. 

3 Maimonides in Home's Introd. vol. iii. 469. Jen- 
nings's Jewish Antiquities, b. i. chap. vii. The scholar 
when he first entered these schools was called "^E^fi 
a disciple, *p^ a junior, or "lina elect. After he had 

4* 



42 DISCOURSE ON 

buildings erected for their accommodation, 
which were called vyiteft **•& houses of study. 
The esteem in which the Jews held them 
is evident from the fact that on the Sabbath 
they attended on the synagogue in the morning, 
and in the afternoon resorted to the school to 
hear a lecture from the Rabbi. And it was a 
common saying that " they might turn a syna- 
gogue into a school, but not a school into a 
synagogue, for the sanctity of a school is above 
the sanctity of a synagogue. 1 The number of 

made good proficiency and was deemed worthy, by the 
imposition of hands he was made ^5 "J, an associate, or 
companion, i. e., of the Rabbi. While he was a disciple his 
own name was suppressed, and he was called only by his 
father's name, as Ben Maimon, the son of Maimon ; when 
admitted to the degree of companion, he was called by his 
own and his father's name, as Moses Ben Maimon : when 
he received the highest degree, he was called Rabbi 
Moses, Ben Maimon, the Rabbi Moses, son of Maimon. 
These titles the Jews contrive to contract by forming a 
new word with the initials of the full name. Thus the 
last title above given contracted is Rambam. So Ralbag 
Rabbi Levi, Ben Gersom. — Godwin, Moses et Aaron, 
lib. i. cnp. vii. 

1 The Targumist interprets Ps. lxxxiv. 7, " They go 
from strength to strength," to refer to that promotion 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 43 

schools among the Jews before the times of 
Christ, and during his ministry and that of his 
apostles, and the number of pupils frequenting 
them, was certainly very great. 1 "Their school 
learning," Lightfoot informs us, at this time had 
arrived " at its height." 2 

From all this array of facts now brought for- 
ward, we perceive clearly, that the arrangements 
of God under the ancient dispensation, for the 
government and instruction of his church, afford 
no countenance to those who disparage learnings 
and the discipline of the schools as a preparation 
for the holy ministry. 

which is obtained by leaving the instructions of the temple 
and resorting to the schools. 

1 This we may believe after we have made every allow- 
ance for the hyperbole of the Rabbins. The Rabbi Simeon 
Ben Gamaliel affirmed that there were five hundred schools^ 
each with five hundred scholars. The Rabbi Akiba is 
represented in Jewish history as having 24^000 disciples. 

s Ligfhtfoot, iii. 32. 



44 



DISCOURSE ON 



CHAPTER II. 

We are now brought down to the times of 
the New Testament, and inquire of it what is 
the will of Christ, our Head, respecting the edu- 
cation of his ministers. The prophets prophe- 
sied until John, and he was appointed from the 
womb to be the forerunner of Christ. In what 
way was he qualified for this honourable office ? 
In the first place, being of priestly birth, and 
residing, during his young days, in a Levitical 
city, he received whatever education it was cus- 
tomary to give to the sons of Aaron. Zecha- 
riah his father, and Elisabeth his mother, fully 
understanding the will of Cod as to the station 
he should fill, no doubt superintended his edu- 
cation with the greatest care ; and, we may be- 
lieve, with signal ability. John himself was 
aware of the station he should occupy, and 
chose a life of seclusion, and was in the de- 
serts until the time of his showing unto Israel. 
He pursued not a life of manual labour for his 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 4& 

subsistence. This the sons of Aaron were not 
accustomed to do. But being removed from 
those places where the tithes and donations to 
the 'priests centered, he depended on the natural 
productions of the solitudes to which he re- 
sorted, locusts and wild honey, for his subsist- 
ence. And how must we suppose a man des- 
tined to fill a more honourable office than had 
yet rested on the shoulders of mortals would 
employ his time in this season of seclusion. In 
the dreamy indolence of monastic retirement, or 
in strenuous discipline of his mind and heart for 
the work before him ? As might be expected 
from such a preparation, when at thirty years of 
age, he came before the public as a preacher of 
righteousness, and the forerunner of the expect- 
ed Messiah, listening thousands hung entranced 
upon his lips, trembled before his bold and fer- 
vid eloquence, and scribe, Pharisee, soldier, and 
myriads of the people, rushed to receive bap- 
tism at his hands. His influence reached the 
palace of Herod; he was a favourite at court, 
and his reproofs tingled in the ears and shook 
the heart of the incestuous and luxurious mon- 
arch. Yet did Herod revere and defend him* 
He gleamed upon the world with a meteor's 



46 DISCOURSE ON 

brightness, and alas ! with a meteor's transitori- 
ness. " He was a burning and shining light/' 
says the Saviour, " and ye were willing for a sea- 
son to rejoice in that light ;" " and verily I' say 
unto you/' says he, i( there has not risen of those 
born of woman a greater prophet than John the 
Baptist." He was the people's favourite : and 
his short ministry of six months was attended 
with the most astonishing effects. 

The example of our Saviour in selecting 
twelve illiterate fishermen to be his apostles, has 
often been quoted by those who plead for an un- 
learned ministry. But in the first place, all 
these apostles were acquainted with the original 
languages and idioms of the Holy Scriptures, 
which it requires years of study to understand, 
and lived amid the scenes, customs, and rites, 
of which we obtain a knowledge with much 
pains and labour. In the second place, they 
spent three years in attendance upon the first of 
Teachers, our Lord Jesus Christ, accompany- 
ing him from place to place, as scholars at that 
day attended their instructors, and submitting 
themselves in all respects to the instructions he 
gave. In the third place, they were inspired by 
the Holy Spirit with a perfect and instantaneous 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 47 

knowledge of all things necessary to be known, 
and were freed from the necessity of study and 
preparation in promulgating the truth. In addi- 
tion to all these they had miraculous powers, 
with which to attract and rivet the attention of 
every hearer, as well as the gift of speaking in 
foreign tongues which they had never learned. 
If with all these gifts and advantages, Christ 
gathered them into his own school of Theology, 
in which they spent three years before entering 
upon their public ministry, in listening to his 
own instructions, it is but little to ask of his 
ministers now, that they spend an equal amount 
of time in Theological study, before they pre- 
sume to stand forth as teachers of the people in 
the things of God. 

In selecting an apostle to supply the place of 
Judas, one was chosen " who had companied 
with the apostles all the time that the Lord 
Jesus went in and out before them, beginning 
with the baptism of John, unto that same day 
that Jesus was taken up from them." And the 
apostle Paul, who was born into the apostleship 
out of due time, was the most learned and effi- 
cient of them all, having been brought up at the 
feet of Gamaliel, being acquainted, at least to 



48 DISCOURSE ON 

some extent, with the Grecian learning ; and 
he, be it remembered, preached the gospel more 
widely in foreign lands, and wrote a larger por- 
tion of the inspired volume than any of the 
twelve. He was born at Tarsus, the capital of 
Cilicia, a city, according to Strabo, which, as a 
place of education, excelled Athens and Alex- 
andria, and all other cities in which were 
schools of philosophy and the poiite arts. Its 
literary men emigrated and settled in other 
cities, and Rome itself was filled with them. 1 
Whether Paul commenced his education in the 
schools of his native city we know not. He 
might have become acquainted with the Greek 
poets, Aratus, Menander, and Epimenides, 
whom he quotes 2 elsewhere. But both the 
spirit of his native city and the literary ardour 
of his Jewish countrymen determined his pa- 
rents to send him to Jerusalem, to the school of 
Gamaliel, a doctor who " was had in reputation 
among all the people." 3 " At the feet of Gama- 
liel he was brought up/ 5 " and taught/' as the 
apostle himself informs us, " according to the 
perfect manner of the law of the fathers/' 4 And 

1 Strabo, lib. xiv. 2 Acts xvii. 28. 1 Cor. xv. 33. 

Tit. i. 12. 3 Acts v. 34. 4 Acts xii. 3. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 49 

he bears this testimony as to his proficiency in 
study : I " profited in Judaism above many of 
my equals in my own nation, being more ex- 
ceedingly zealous of the traditions of the 
fathers. 5 ' 1 In what year he commenced his 
education under Gamaliel, and in what year he 
completed it, we do not know. But he himself 
says, " he spent his youth among his own na- 
tion at Jerusalem." 2 It is therefore probable 
that he was trained for a life of learned labour ; 
that he regularly graduated at the school where 
he was educated ; and that, as Selden supposes, 
he was formally set apart by ordination as a 
teacher of the Jewish religion. That he was a 
tent-maker 3 proves nothing against such a sup- 

1 Gal. i. 14. 2 Acts xxvi. 4. 

3 Acts xviii. 3. The country in which the Apostle was 
born, explains in some measure the reason of his pursuing 
this particular trade. Cilicia produced very shaggy, rough- 
haired goats, from the hair of which the Cilicians manufac- 
tured a coarse cloth, called from the name of the country Cili- 
cium, Cilicia. This cloth was very suitable for tents, and the 
manufacture of the cloth brought with it the manufacture 
of the tents, which were in great demand not only for 
the soldier, but for the nomadic tribes of Syria. Tent- 
making was thus one branch of the national industry of the 
Cilicians. — Hug. Introd. vol. ii. p. 336. 
5 



50 DISCOURSE ON 

position. The ancient Jewish proverb was, 
" He who does not teach his son a trade, teaches 
him to steal ;" and youth of the highest birth 
were taught some mechanical employment to 
which they might resort for subsistence when 
necessity required. 1 The Apostle Paul then 
was a man of learning, one w T ho had received 
the education of a scribe, teacher, or lawyer — 
public men whose name of office frequently oc- 
curs in the New Testament. After his conver- 
sion, the Apostle continued more than two years 
in Arabia, where he preached the Gospel, as is 
supposed by some, or, as is conjectured with 
greater probability by others, devoted himself to 
the careful study of the Jewish Scriptures, by 
the help of the new light which was bestowed 
upon him. and attended to those revelations 
made to him by Christ, to which he repeatedly 
refers. 2 

Luke, one of the Evangelists, and accordino- 
to the testimony of Origen and Theophylact, of 
the seventy disciples, is called by Paul " the be- 

1 So the Rabbi Johanan the sandal-maker, &c. See 
Lightfoot, v. 121, and iii. 227. 

2 Macknigbt, Life of Paul, chap. ii. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 51 

loved physician." 1 Judging by the profession 
he pursued, 2 and the peculiarities of his style, 
he too was a man of cultivated mind before he 
became a disciple of Christ. And it is a re- 
markable testimony to the value of education 
in the ministry, that Paul and Luke, the two 
among the first teachers of Christianity the most 
indubitably proved to be men of learning, should 
have been chosen by the Holy Spirit to pen the 
largest portion of the Christian Revelation. 
Paul is the most extensive writer, Luke the 
next, and John the next, of those whom the Holy 
Ghost employed as the penmen of the New Tes- 
tament Scriptures. 

Another of the early and most successful 
teachers of Christianity, one whom many of the 
Corinthians esteemed superior to Paul, was 
Apollos, a native of Alexandria, said in the book 
of Acts to have been " an eloquent man and 
mighty in the Scriptures." He, too, we doubt 

1 Col. iv. 14. 

2 Luke was born at Antioch, (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. i. 4.) 
a city in which the sciences were greatly cultivated. The 
profession of medicine was already in great repute, and was 
a profession already indicating learning and accurate habits 
of observation. The services of physicians were as well 



52 DISCOURSE ON 

not, was educated like Paul the Apostle, in the 
schools of the Rabbins : l he " had received the 

paid as now. Hippocrates lived 451 years B. C, and 
Galen 153 years A. C. ; the works of the former which 
remain, have been edited in two folio volumes, and those of 
the latter in five volumes folio, and are justly esteemed of 
great value by the profession now. Kis religion drew 
Luke towards Palestine, and made him acquainted with 
Jewish learning, as was the case with Paul. His sugges- 
tive style indicates the culture and thought-fulness of his 
mind ; and his accurate description of diseases by medical 
terms, indicates his professional employment and bias. 

1 Apollos was a native of Alexandria, where the museum, 
endowed with royal gifts, and the celebrated library founded 
by Ptolemy, furnished at once the means and excited the 
desire for study. The Jews, who lived there in great num- 
bers, already esteeming learning so much, caught the 
literary spirit of the place, and were more than ever 
anxious to perfect themselves in sacred learning. The 
Septuagint version of the Old Testament is a noble monu- 
ment of the literary labours of the Alexandrine Jews. In 
the passage above referred to, Acts xviii. 24, Apollos is 
called dvrip \6yivs, dvvarSg tov h reus ypacpaTg. A^oyiog is a 
word not elsewhere used in the N. T. In the classical 
writers it signifies eloquent or skilful in speech; also 
erudite, learned ; also prudent, wise ; by Herodotus it is 
used of those skilled in historic lore ; and among the later 
Greeks was used of those versed in dialectics. See Passow 
Handworterbuch. Learned men have differed as to the 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 53 

baptism of John, and was instructed in the way 
of the Lord, and began to speak boldly in the 

sense in which the word is used of Apollos. J. Prideaux 
supposes he is so called because he excelled in dialectics, 
eloquence, and mathematics, branches of knowledge which 
were much pursued in his native city. Vitringa, Obss. 
Sac. iii. xxi. refers to the description Maimonides gives of 
a class of Jewish philosophers, called ^*)^1*A, speakers, 
who discoursed in a very scholastic way concerning the 
whole circle of science, and which answers to those who 
were called SioXektikoI by the Greeks. See Moreh Nebho- 
chim, p. i. cap. lxxi. — Ixxvi. But it is not at ail probable 
that the Medaberim were found among the Jews at so 
early a period. The opinion of Raphelius is much nearer 
the truth, who expresses himself thus : " Since the word 
\dyios is a general term embracing all learning, but having 
a more especial reference to eloquence ; lest it should not 
be known in what species of science he excelled, I suppose 
the words Swards k. r. X. 'mighty in the Scriptures/ are 
added epexegetically. His erudition and eloquence there- 
fore were great, but were both drawn from the sacred 
Scriptures." See Wolfii Curse Philol. on Acts xviii. 24. 
Also J. J. Pfizer De Apollo Doctore in Thes. Nov. Theol- 
Philol. p. 693. Of Aquila andPriscilla's ability to instruct 
Apollos in the Christian system, we shall be the more per- 
suaded when we recollect the apostle Paul had resided in 
their family at Corinth, and pursued with them the trade of 
tent-making. They afterwards accompanied the apostle 
to.Ephesus, Acts xviii. 2, 3, 18, 19, and were instra- 



54 DISCOURSE ON 

synagogue." Of him it is recorded, that when 
Aquila and Priscilla heard him, "they took him 
unto themselves, and expounded unto him the 
way of God more perfectly ;" and then, when 
after this instruction received from them he 
was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren 
wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him as 
a minister of Christ. 

Among the youthful candidates for the min- 
istry, prepared under the instructions of Paul for 
this sacred office, were Timothy and Titus, to 
whom, after they were separated from him, he 
continued his instructions in the Epistles he 
addressed to them, giving them various direc- 
tions as to their pastoral and public duties, their 
private walk, and their studies. In the opinion 
of Mosheim, the Apostle Paul taught Timothy 
and Titus, not singly and alone, but as candi- 
dates for the ministry are now taught, in the 
society of one another. In 2d Timothy ii. 2. 

mental of preserving his life, though at the hazard of their 
own. They subsequently resided at Rome, and had a church 
which held its assemblies in their own house. Rom. xvi. 
4, 5. Apollos afterwards travelled, preaching the gospel, 
with another man of education, Zenas the lawyer, who 
was also, perhaps, a preacher of the word. Tit. iii. 13. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 55 

he finds proof of this in these words : " The 
things thou hast heard of me among many wit- 
nesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, 
who shall be able to teach others also." These 
many witnesses, in whose presence Paul had in- 
structed Timothy, he supposes to be young men 
who, like Timothy and Titus, were waiting upon 
the instructions of Paul, and so preparing to 
preach the everlasting gospel. But we cannot 
do justice to his views, without expressing them 
in his own words. 

" There can be no doubt," says that eminent 
historian, " but that, from almost the very first 
rise of Christianity, it was the practice for cer- 
tain of the youth, in whom such a strength of 
genius and capacity manifested itself as to afford 
a hope of their becoming profitable servants in 
the cause of religion, to be set apart for the 
sacred ministry, and for the presbyters and bish- 
ops to supply them with the requisite prepara- 
tory instructions, and form them by their pre- 
cepts and advice for that solemn office. On 
this subject St. Paul, in the latter of his Epistles 
to Timothy, ii. 2, expresses himself in the fol- 
lowing terms : v*v\ a i]KOVdag nag spov dia nolloiv 
{MXQTiQoov lama nagd&ov nicridlg av&gojjioig, owweg 



56 DISCOURSE ON 

Ixavol eaovTai xal hsgovg didd^ai ; ' and the things 
that thou hast heard of me among many witness- 
es, the same commit thou to faithful men, who 
shall be able to teach others also.' The apos- 
tle here, we see, directs Timothy, in the first 
place, to select from amongst the members 
of the church a certain number of men, who 
might appear to him to possess the talents 
requisite for conveying instruction to others, 
and who were persons of tried and approved 
faith. For it will not admit of a doubt that by the 
nidioL av&gojTioi c faithful men ' here alluded to, 
we ought to understand not merely believers, 
or those holding the faith, but persons of ap- 
proved and established faith, to whom things of 
the highest moment might be intrusted without 
danger or apprehension. Secondly, to the per- 
sons thus selected, he was to communicate and 
expound that discipline in which he himself 
had been instructed by St. Paul before many 
witnesses. Now it is evident that St. Paul 
could not, by this, mean that they were to 
be taught the mere elements or rudiments of 
the Christian faith; for with these every one 
professing Christianity was of course brought 
acquainted ; and doubtless, therefore, those 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 57 

whom the apostle in this place directs Timothy 
to instruct, must have known and been thor- 
oughly versed in them long before. The disci- 
pline, then, which Timothy had received from 
St. Paul, and which he was thus to become the 
instrument of communicating to others, was, 
without question, that more full and perfect 
knowledge of divine truth as revealed in the 
gospel of Christ, which it was fitting that every 
one who was advanced to the office of a master 
or teacher among the brethren should possess, 
together with a due degree of instruction as to 
the most skilful and ready method of imparting 
to the multitude a proper rule of faith, and cor- 
rect principles of moral action. But what is 
this, I would ask, but to direct Timothy to in- 
stitute a school or seminary for the education 
of future presbyters and teachers for the church, 
and to cause a certain number of persons of 
talents and virtue to be trained up therein, un- 
der a course of discipline similar to that which 
he himself had received at the hands of Paul ? 
It may moreover be inferred from these words, 
that the apostle had personally discharged the 
same office which he thus imposes on Timothy, 
and applied himself to the properly educating 



58 DISCOURSE ON 

of Juture teachers and ministers for the church ; 
for it appears by them that he had not been the tu- 
tor of Timothy only, but that his instructions to 
this his favourite disciple had been imparted 
dia tioXIojv pagrvQcov, ' before many witnesses ;' 
dia having, in this place, unquestionably the 
force of the preposition ivdniov. To determine, 
indeed, whom we ought to understand by the 
persons thus termed ' witnesses,' has occa- 
sioned no small stir amongst the commentators. 
According to some we should connect them 
with the following word nagd&ov, and consider 
St. Paul assaying, dLanollwnaQTVQMV nagd&ov, 
' transmit by many witnesses.' Others w T ould 
have us understand by these witnesses, the pres- 
byters who ordained Timothy to the sacred 
ministry by the laying on of hands, 1 Tim. iv. 
14 ; and conceive that immediately previous to 
such ordination, St. Paul had, in the presence and 
hearing of these presbyters, recapitulated and 
again inculcated on the mind of his adopted 
son in the faith, the chief or leading articles of 
the Christian religion : whilst others, again, ima- 
gine that the persons here alluded to were wit- 
nesses of the life, actions, and miracles of our 
Lord. But of these and some other conjectures 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 59 

on the subject, which it is needless to enumer- 
ate, there is not one but what is encumbered 
with considerable difficulties. A. much more 
natural way of resolving the point, as it appears 
to me, is by supposing that St. Paul had under 
him, in a sort of seminary or school which he 
had instituted for the purpose of properly edu- 
cating presbyters and teachers, several other 
disciples or pupils besides Timothy ; and that 
the witnesses here spoken of, before whom 
Timothy had been instructed, were his fellow- 
students, persons destined like him for the min- 
istry, and partakers together with him of the 
benefits that were to be derived from the apos- 
tle's tuition. It is highly credible, I may indeed 
say it is more than credible, that not St. Paul 
alone, but also all the other apostles of our 
Lord, applied themselves to the properly in- 
structing of certain select persons, so as to ren- 
der them fit to be intrusted with the care and 
government of the churches ; and, consequently, 
that the first Christian teachers were brought 
up and formed in schools or seminaries imme- 
diately under their eye. Besides other refer- 
ences which might be given, it appears from 
Irenseus advers. Hcereses, lib. ii. cap. xxii. p. 



60 DISCOURSE ON 

148, ed. Massuet., that St. John employed him- 
self at Ephesus, where he spent the latter part 
of his life in qualifying youth for the sacred 
ministry. And the same author, as quoted by 
Eusebius, Histor. Eccles. lib. v. cap. xx. p. 188, 
represents Polycarp, the celebrated bishop of 
Smyrna, as having laboured in the same way. 
That the example of these illustrious characters 
was followed by the bishops in general, will 
scarcely admit of a doubt. To this origin, in 
my opinion, are to be referred those seminaries 
termed ' episcopal schools/ which we find 
attached to the principal churches, and in 
which youth designed for the ministry went 
through a proper course of preparatory instruc- 
tion and discipline under the bishop himself or 
some presbyter of his appointment." 1 

The exposition of the passage in Timothy, 
given in the preceding extract, may not approve 
itself to all, but a degree of confirmation is added 
to it, by the consideration that Paul had himself 
been trained in early life in the school of Gama- 



1 Mosheim. Commentaries on the Affairs of the Chris- 
tians before the time of Constantine, vol. i. p. 223, Note. 
Vidal's Translation. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 61 

liel, and that this plainly was the universal 
method in the Jewish church of preparing the 
public teacher for his office. He seems also to 
allude to some course of Theological teaching 
which Timothy had gone through under his 
supervision. " Hold fast," says he, " the form 
of sound words, which thou hast heard of me." 1 
" But thou hast fully known my doctrine," [or 
teaching.] 2 " Continue in the things thou hast 
learned and hast been assured of, knowing of 
whom thou hast learned them." 3 

The apostle, in his salutations at the close of 
his Epistles, mentions the names of many who 
were ministers and fellow-labourers in the 
church, who must have been ordained to that 
office by the Apostles, and who, we suppose, were 
taught the doctrines of Christianity, not by in- 
spiration, but by a course of Theological study 
under himself or other apostles of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 

We also find in the Apostolic church, that 
there was a distinct office of Doctors or Teachers, 
didaaxaXoi. " He gave some, apostles ; and 
some, prophets ; and some, pastors and teachers, 
Ttal didauxakovg; for the perfecting of the saints, 

2 Tim. i. 13. 2 2 Tim. iii. 10. 3 2 Tim. iii. 14. 
6 



62 DISCOURSE ON 

for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of 
the body of Christ." L " And God hath set some 
in the church, first apostles, secondarily pro- 
phets, thirdly teachers." 2 These teachers are 
charged, in Romans xii. 7, to attend to their 
office of "teaching." They bore, says Calvin, 
the same relation to the ancient prophets, that 
our pastors do to the apostles. As the Christian 
church seems to have been modelled after the 
synagogue, we may presume that the office of 
Teacher was not materially different in the prim- 
itive church from that of Scribe, Doctor, or 
Teacher in the Jewish. 3 With each synagogue 

1 Eph. iv. 11, 12. 2 1 Cor. xii. 28. 

3 John xx. 16. " Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She 
turned herself and said unto him, ' Rabboni,' n ?13^ ; which 
is to say SidacKaXos. As Rabbi and Rabboni indicated one 
who held authoritatively the office of teacher in the Jewish 
church, and ^waGKalog in John is declared synonymous 
with it, there can be little doubt of the substantial coinci- 
dence between the oiSaoxalos of the Christian church and that 
of the Rabbi or Doctor of the Law among the Jews, who pro- 
bably also filled the place of Targumist, or interpreter of the 
Law, in the synagogue worship. The view we have taken 
of the Teacher in the Christian church as a permanent and 
distinct officer, was taken by most of the older Presbyterians, 
and is adopted into the Confessions of Faith of the Swiss 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 63 

was usually connected a school for religious and 
biblical instruction, and so in the early Chris- 
tian churches was there a division of the con- 
gregation into the catechumens and the faithful, 

and French church, and into the Book of Discipline of the 
Westminster Assembly and of the Kirk of Scotland. " The 
Scripture/' says the Book of Discipline of the Assembly of 
Divines, " doth hold out the name and title of teacher, as 
well as of the pastor, 1 Cor. xii. 28. Eph. iv. 11." "A 
teacher or doctor is of most excellent use in schools and uni- 
versities ; as of old in the schools of the prophets, and at 
Jerusalem, where Gamaliel and others taught as doctors." 
Neal's Hist, of the Puritans, Appendix. " The office of 
Doctor or Catechiser is one of the two ordinary and per- 
petual functions that travel in the word." " They are 
such properly who teach in schools, colleges, or universi- 
ties." Steuart of Pardovan's Collections, Title vi. p. 32. 
" It was the office of the Doctor to explain faithfully the 
word of the Lord, and, as it were, to rule the ecclesiastical 
school, so that sound doctrine and the true interpretation of 
doctrines might be retained in the church : as Pantsenus 
and Origen taught at Alexandria, to whom, while it was al- 
lowed them to preach to the congregation, there were not 
wanting some to object, who said that it was done contrary 
to the custom of the fathers, as is unfolded apud Niceph. 
Hist. Eccl. b. v. cap. 14." Beza on Eph. iv. 11. See also 
Calvin, Com. on Eph. iv. 11, vol. vi. p. 130, Ed. Thol., 
and Owen on the Office of Teacher, Works, vol. xx. 
p. 461. 



64 DISCOURSE ON 

and a regular method of instruction in the 
doctrines of the Gospel adopted for the former. 
And it seems to have been the case quite early, 
that as there were schools of religious instruc- 
tion in connection with the synagogues, so there 
were schools of religious instruction in connec- 
tion with the churches. Over these catechumens 
we suppose these teachers to have especially 
presided. Like the pastor, they were entitled to 
a support. Let the catechumen 6 xaTr^ovfisvog 
communicate to the catechist t« xv.ti]xovvti in ail 
good things. These teachers were of the same 
ecclesiastical order with the pastors ; and no 
doubt in many churches the duties of both 
offices centered in one and the same person. In 
most, however, they were distinct; and where this 
was the case, it would naturally fall within the 
scope of the teacher's duties to conduct the 
studies of those young men who were designed 
for the ministry. The Apostles included within 
their own extraordinary office, also the office of 
the Evangelist, and the ordinary offices of Minis- 
ter of the Word, and Teacher. 

All these considerations together render it 
probable that the Apostles, as mentioned above, 
besides their other various duties, did devote no 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 65 

small part of their care and labour to the work 
of training, by a suitable education, pious and 
judicious men for the ministry of the church. 
Add to this the fact, that the early fathers inform 
us that such and such persons were the disci- 
ples of such Apostles, and that we find these 
very disciples themselves engaged in training, 
in theological schools, young men for the minis- 
try. Jerome says Polycarp was " a disciple of 
John." 1 Papias was " an auditor of John/ 52 
Quadratus was " a disciple of the Apostles ;" 3 
and that he means by these expressions that they 
were students under the Apostles, is plain, from 
the fact that he uses precisely these terms when 
speaking of the relation borne by others to their 
known and regular intructors. Thus he tells 
us that Clemens Alexandrinus was " an auditor 
of Pantaenus, and succeeded him as head of 
the ecclesiastical school at Alexandria ;" 4 that 
Origen was " a disciple of Clement," 5 that Try- 
phon was " an auditor of Origen," 6 Dionysius 
" a very distinguished auditor of Origen," 7 that 
Firmianus and Lactantius were " disciples of 

1 Jerom. de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, cap. xvii. 2 Ibid, 
cap. xviii. 3 Ibid. cap. xix. 4 Ibid. cap. xv. 5 Ibid. cap. 
xxxviii. 6 Ibid. cap. lvii. 7 Ibid. cap. lxix. 

6* 



66 DISCCURSE ON 

Arnobius;" 1 and Demetrius was" an auditor of 
Firmi anus." 2 Jerome also says of Irenseus, that 
he was " a disciple of Polycarp." 3 And Euse- 
bius introduces Ireneeus as speaking to Florinus 
(< of the presbyters before us who were immediate 
disciples of the Apostles," to one of whom, his 
former teacher, he thus alludes : " I remember 
the events of those times much better than those 
of more recent occurrence. As the studies of 
our youth growing with our mind unite with it 
so firmly that I can tell the very place where the 
blessed Polycarp was accustomed to sit and dis- 
course, and also his entrances, his walks, the 
complexion of his life, and the form of his body 
and his conversations with the people, and his 
familiar intercourse with John, as also his famil- 
iarity with those who had seen the Lord." 4 In 
these words we manifestly hear the pupil giving 
utterance to his delightful reminiscences of a 
revered instructor. 

Mosheim, on the authority of Eusebius and 
Jerome, attributes to the Apostles the foundation 
of those early schools of the first Christians, in 
which the youth destined to the holy ministry 

1 Jerom Da Scriptor. Ecel. cap. lxxx. 2 Ibid. cap. Ixxx. 
3 Ibid. cap. xxxv. 4 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. v. cap. xx. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 67 

received an education suitable for their solemn 
office. " St. John/' he says, " erected a school 
of this kind at Ephesus, Polycarp one at Smyr- 
na, and, as is generally supposed, Mark founded 
the one at Alexandria, which was the most fa- 
mous of them all. 1 The last named school, the 
catechetical school of Alexandria, is the only 
one of which we have any distinct account in 
history. And of the early rise and gradual 
completion of this school we are without au- 
thentic information. 2 Jerome says, " it was in 
being from the time of St. Mark:" 3 and Euse- 
bius, " from ancient time." 4 The first teacher 
of whom we read in history is Athenagoras, 
about A. D. 160, and the last is Rhodo, about 
A. D. 395. The fact that no teacher in this 
school is mentioned before Athenagoras, is 
thought to cast suspicion over the account of 
Jerome, that the school was founded by Mark. 5 
Still we think the statement of Eusebius and 
Jerome must be substantially correct. There 
would be a greater inducement to found a school 

1 Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. McLaine's Trans, i. p. 101. 
2 Meander, Ch. Hist. Philad. 1843, p. 336. 3 De Scriptor. 
Eccl. c. xxxvi. 4 Hist. Eccl. vi. 10. 5 Dr. Murdock, Note 
to his Trans, of Mosheim, i. p. 81. 



68 DISCOURSE ON 

in connection with the church at Alexandria 
than in any other place. It was the most im- 
portant city, in many respects, of the whole 
world. It had been founded by Alexander the 
Great, as the capital of his mighty empire, which 
extended from Italy on the one hand, to India 
on the other ; and, situated midway between 
Asia and Europe, it became the great mart of 
nations, while the fostering care of the Ptole- 
mies made it the seat of literature and science. 
The great University of Ptolemy Philadelphus 
before mentioned, 1 and its Library of 400,000 
volumes, with the additional one of 300,000 in 
the Serapion, drew to that famous city the schol- 
ars of every nation. A far famed synagogue of 
the Jews was there, the most splendid in all the 
world, with its school and its Rabbies. 2 By 
the Jews the celebrated version of the LXX had 
been here elaborated. In the midst of such in- 
telligence and acuteness on every side, it is easy 
to see that the Christians would feel the neces- 
sity of giving to their youth superior advantages 
of religious instruction, and that the teachers 
of the Alexandrine church would make in- 

1 Note to p. 52. Strabo xvii. 8. 2 Light foot, iii. p. 28. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 69 

creased efforts to meet the " oppositions of learn- 
ing and science" which doubtless assailed them. 
As the ordinary synagogue— schools of the Jews 
at certain points and under distinguished men, 
as at Jerusalem under Gamaliel — rose to a supe- 
rior eminence, and became the place of educa- 
tion for their religious teachers, so, do we sup- 
pose, out of the ordinary arrangement for Cate- 
chumens at Alexandria, grew that celebrated 
seminary of Theology which for 300 years ex- 
erted such an influence over the Christian 
church. 

This school was taught by a succession of 
men, eminent for learning, science, and piety. 
Among them were Pantsenus, 1 Clement, and 
Origen, men famous while they lived for their 
talent, learning, and influence. 

The industry of these teachers, and of Ori- 

1 u A man of prudence and learning." Jerome de 
Script. 111. xxx. 6. " A Sicilian bee, who gathered the 
flowers of the prophetic or apostolic meadow, and filled the 
minds of his hearers with sincere knowledge." Clement 
Stromata. Other teachers were Didymus, Pierius, Hera- 
clas the colleague of Origen, Dionysius, Theognostus, and 
others. For a complete list as far as known, see Prof. Em- 
erson's article on the Theoi, Sem. at Alexandria, in Bib, 
Eepos. for 1834, p. 24. 



70 DISCOURSE ON 

gen in particular, was intense. Besides teaching 
the principal branches of theological study, and 
the exegesis of the Hebrew and Greek Scrip- 
tures, they added the Grecian literature and the 
study of philosophy, and indeed every thing 
which would discipline the mind of the young 
men, and prepare them the better for a life of 
Christian activity. Gregory Thaumaturgus gives 
the following account of the studies pursued by 
himself and his brother Athenodorus, under Or- 
igen. He says : " Of Origen they learned logic, 
physics, geometry, astronomy, ethics. He en- 
couraged them also in the reading of all sorts of 
ancient authors, poets, and philosophers, whether 
Greeks or barbarians, restraining them from 
none but such as denied a deity or a providence, 
from whom no possible advantage could be ob- 
tained. But, above all, he inculcated a diligent 
attention to the mind of God as revealed in the 
prophets ; he himself explaining to them the ob- 
scure and difficult passages, when any such oc- 
curred : as certainly there are many such in 
the sacred Scriptures.'" 

Speaking of the teachers of this school, Nean- 

1 Oration of Gregory Thaumaturgus, quot. by Lardner, 
Works, vol. ii. p. 610. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 71 

der says : " It was necessary that great care 
should be used in the choice of these Alexan- 
drian catechists, and the office was assigned to 
men of literary and philosophical attainments, 
who had themselves come over to Christianity 
after a learned investigation of it, such as Pan- 
tsenus, and his disciple Clement." 1 The views 
of Clement himself on the duties of the office of 
Catechist in this school are thus expressed : 
" He who desires to select that which is useful, 
for the advantage of the catechumens, and more 
especially of those who are Greeks, (for the 
earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,) 
must not like the senseless brutes refuse learn- 
ing, but rather should supply as many aids as 
^possible to his hearers." "All instruction is 
useful, and the perusal of the Holy Scriptures 
is necessary to substantiate those things which 
are uttered, especially if those who hear come 
from the Grecian Schools." 2 He also com- 
mends Music, Astronomy, Geometry, and Phi- 
losophy, as furnishing no mean aid in the pur- 
suit of sacred studies. 3 And Origen, who was 
educated under Clement in early life, thus 

4 Neander, Ch. Hist. Philad. p. 337. 2 Clemens Alex., 
Ed. Potter, pp. 784, 786. 3 Ibid. p. 785. 



72 DISCOURSE ON 

speaks of the attention he bestowed on the Gre- 
cian philosophy : ] " When I had devoted myself 
to the preaching of the divine doctrines, and the 
reputation of my ability in these things had ex- 
tended itself widely, — and sometimes heretics, 
sometimes persons who had pursued the Hel- 
lenic sciences, and especially men from the phi- 
losophical schools, came to me, — then it seemed 
necessary for me to investigate the doctrinal 
opinions of heretics, and what the philosophers 
pretended to know of truth." He informs us 
that he frequented the lectures of " the Teacher 
of Philosophy," who is supposed to be Ammo- 
nius Saccas, the founder of the New Platonic 
school. 1 

His labours in the department of Biblical 
learning are well known : his collections of the 
manuscripts of the original Scriptures, and the 
commentaries he wrote on a large portion of 
the sacred books, point him out as the founder 
of the learned study of the Scriptures. 3 We 
have indeed to regret the false principles upon 
which he proceeded in interpreting the word oi 
God, and the errors into which his speculative 

1 Euseb. vi., xis., and Neander, p. 435. 2 Eussb. ti., xvi. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 73 

mind led him, yet his life of toil and study, ex- 
pended principally on the education of the ris- 
ing ministry, shows us the estimation in which 
this education was held by the church. " As 
now the number of those who sought instruction 
at his hands," says Eusebius, " was continually 
increasing, and his Biblical labours becoming 
more and more severe, he divided the multitude, 
and selected Heraclius, one of his friends who 
was devoted to the study of the Scriptures, and 
otherwise a most learned man, and associated 
him with himself in the office of instruction. 
To him he committed the elementary depart- 
ment, reserving for himself the higher duty of 
lecturing to those who were more advanced." 1 
That the course of study appointed for the pu- 
pils was ample, is shown from the fact that the 
teachers themselves set an example of thorough 
study in their own persons. Clement says that 
" he had many eminent men as his teachers : one 
in Greece who was an Ionian, another in Magna 
Grecia; one from Ccelosyria, another from 
Egypt ; others from the East, and of these one 
from Assyria, another in Palestine, a Hebrew 
•by descent. The last I met was the first in 

1 Euseb. vi. 15. 
7 



74 DISCOURSE ON 

power ; him I found concealed in Egypt, and 
rested satisfied. He was a true Sicilian bee, 
gathering the flowers of the Prophetic and 
Apostolic meadow, who engendered true know- 
ledge in the minds of those who heard him." 1 
He thus describes Pantsenus, his revered pre- 
decessor in the Alexandrian school. The time 
spent in this school was often considerable. 
Gregory, surnamed Thaumaturgus, though he 
had a finished classical education before, and 
had commenced the study of Law, remained 
eight years under the instructions of Origen. 2 
And if we may judge of the assiduity of the 
pupils by that of their teachers, it was very great. 
" Such was the flocking of pupils to Origen 
from morning to night," to use his own words, 
" that they scarcely allowed him to draw his 
breath." 3 And he says of his pursuits : " The 
comparison of manuscripts leaves me no time to 
eat ; and after my meals I cannot go out nor 
rest myself, but even at that time I am compel- 
led to institute philological inquiries, and cor- 
rect manuscripts. Even the night is not allowed 

7 Stromata, p. 322, Ed. Potter. 2 Neander, p. 449. 
s Euseb. vi. 15. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 75 

me for sleep, but my philological inquiries oc- 
cupy a considerable portion of it. I will not 
mention the time from early in the morning 
until the ninth and sometimes the tenth hour, 
because all who have pleasure in such employ- 
ments use this time for the study of the divine 
word and reading." 1 

As to this school and others of that early peri- 
od, we are not informed in what edifices they were 
assembled, nor by what means supported, nor by 
whom definitely the teachers were appointed. 
As, however, Origen was called to the head of 
the Catechetical school in Alexandria, by Deme- 
trius, bishop of that city, and seems to have been 
directly amenable to him, it is to be presumed 
that their schools were, in those early times, un- 
der the control of the Bishops or Pastors of those 
cities in which they were located ; a confirma- 
tion, we think, of the opinion we have expressed, 
that they originated out of those provisions made 
in individual churches for the religious training 
of the younger portion of the congregation. 
Thus Origen was taught in the school of Alex- 
andria, while yet a youth. 2 Multitudes flocked 

1 Neander, p. 437. Euseb. vi. 3. 2 Ibid. vi. 6. 



76 DISCOURSE ON 

to him for instruction in religion, and the names 
of two ladies, Herais and Potamisena, are men- 
tioned by Eusebius, as among his catechumens 
who suffered martyrdom. 1 In the times of Ori- 
gen, probably on account of the peculiar difficul- 
ties under which Christians laboured, there 
seems not to have been a stipend connected with 
the office, since he was obliged to sell a collec- 
tion of beautiful old manuscripts to a lover of lit- 
erature, who agreed to pay him four oboloi a day 
for a series of years, which furnished him with 
his support. 2 Yet, though poor, there were 
found friends who assisted him in every thing 
needful for the advancement of his studies and 
literary labours. Ambrose, a wealthy man 
whom he had converted to the true faith, was 
continually exciting him to literary effort, and 
employed his large fortune to furnish him the 
means. He supplied him with seven rapid writ- 
ers, TazvygdcpoL, who were to take turns in writ- 
ing down as he dictated, and the same number 
to make out fair copies of all that w r as written, 
(ji'Shoygucpoi, as also girls who had been instruct- 
ed to write more elegantly, acdhygaopoi. All 

1 Euseb. vi. 4, 5. 2 Ibid. vi. 3. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 77 

these Ambrose supported, while Origen plied 
his labours with unremitted toil, to furnish them 
with employment. 1 

When Constantine the Great embraced Chris- 
tianity, he made public provision for the pay- 
ment of regular salaries to the teachers of Chris- 
tian schools, and gave his assistance in sustain- 
ing poor scholars who had the ministry in view. 
This however was at a later period. 2 The Alex- 
andrian school was in some way sustained by the 
generosity of Christians ; and, as Hospinian re- 
marks, " multitudes, renowned for learning and 
piety, issued forth from it as from the Tro- 
jan horse, and applied themselves to the 
blessed work of the Lord in the churches of the 
East." 3 

Other schools are also mentioned as in exist- 
ence in the early days of the church. The 
Presbyter Pamphilus of Caesarea founded at that 
place, about A. D. 290, a theological school, in 
which the study of Scripture was pursued with 

1 Euseb. vi. 13. 

2 Magdeburg Centuriators, Cent. iv. c. vii. p. 288,; also 
chap. iii. p. 42. 

3 Quoted in Prof. Emerson's Hist, of the Cat. School of 
Alexandria, Bib. Repos. vol. iv. p. 22. 

7* 



78 DISCOURSE ON 

great earnestness. He also founded a library 
there, which contributed as late as the fourth 
century to advance the labours of the scholars. 1 
Malchion was head of a scientific school at An- 
tioch, where he distinguished himself by refut- 
ing Paul of Samosata, who entertained heret- 
ical opinions respecting the divinity of Christ. 2 
And another school of theology was founded at 
Antioch by learned Presbyters of that city, who 
busied themselves with zeal in Biblical studies, 
and which was at its most flourishing period in 
the fourth century. 3 Indeed it has been the belief 
of some, from the mention made in the 13th chap- 
ter of Acts, of Prophets and Teachers residing at 
Antioch, that a Christian school existed there in 
the days of the Apostles. Neander speaking of 
this place says : " The church in the great me- 
tropolis of the Eastern part of Roman Asia — a 
flourishing seat of literature — could not be at a 
loss for teachers gifted with a learned education, 
and their intercourse with well educated heathen 
would evidently spur on their activity as au- 

1 Neander, p. 452. Euseb. vii. 32. Jerome de Scriptor. 111. 
c.lxxv. Lardirer,iii.pp.223,224,226,229. 2 Enseb. vii. 29. 

3 Neander, p. 453. Among these learned Presbyters 
were Dorotheus and Lucian, who suffered martyrdom under 
Diocletian, A. D. 312. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 79 

thors. 1 In the school of Antioch, Theodoras, 
Chrysostoin, Nestorius, and a certain deacon 
mentioned by Chrysostom in his 48th Homily 
on Acts, exercised the oliice of Teacher or Cate- 
chist. So Cyril at Jerusalem, where, in the third 
century, Alexander, Bishop of that city, erected a 
library from which Eusebius collected materials 
for his history. 2 A variety of schools are men- 
tioned by the Fathers as places where one or an- 
other of them were educated. Gregory Nazian- 
zen mentions a school in Palestine, where he 
studied Rhetoric. Epiphanius the sophist 
taught at Laodicea, and had Apollinarius as a 
scholar. Lactantius taught Rhetoric at Nico- 
media. Basil the Great and Nazianzen studied at 
Athens, having Julian the apostate as a fellow- 
student. 3 Other schools of the same character 
with that of Alexandria existed in the East, as at 
Edessa, founded about A D. 3.60, and destroyed 
A, D. 4S9, at the command of the Emperor Ze- 
no, because of his opposition to the Nestorian 
doctrines there taught ; at Nisibis, where a school 
was founded by Narses the Leper about A. D- 

l Neander, p. 419. 2 Asseman Bibliotheca Orientalis, 
Tom. iii. P. ii. p. 922. Euseb. vi. 20. 3 Magdeburg Cen- 
turiators, Cent. iv. cap.vii.p. 287. 



80 DISCOURSE ON 

490 ; at Seleucia ; at Dorkanae, founded A. D„ 
385; at Bagdat still later ; and at various other 
places throughout the Eastern church, and in the 
West, as at Rome and Carthage. 1 The school at 
Rome under the Emperors Valentinian and The- 
odosius, at the close of the fourth century, had all 
the elements of a University. It had three profes- 
sors of Oratory, ten of Grammar, five of Dialectics, 
one of Philosophy, and two of Law : each lecturing 
in a separate auditorium, to numerous and regular 
classes of students. 2 The early Christians, too, 
were careful to establish libraries at convenient 
points. Honorius, undertheEmperorCommodus, 
writes that the capitol at Rome was struck by 
lightning, and the library, collected by the pious 
with great care, was consumed. Constantine 
writes himself to Eusebius of Nicome, ordering 
that books should be prepared with all due des- 
patch for the furtherance of religion. Athana- 
sius speaks of a library, the books of which were 
preserved with great care in the church at Alex- 
andria ; and Possidonius, of one in the church 
of Hippo, in Augustine's time. Jovinian, at the 
instigation of his wife, caused the library in the 

1 Asseman. Tom. iii. P. iL pp. 92-1—930. 2 Magde- 
burg Cent. p. 288. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 81 

church of Antioch to be burnt, in which many 
precious books perished. Jerome writing toPam- 
rnachus, speaks of the libraries in churches, and 
there is evidence that the church at Rome 
maintained scribes who were employed in pre- 
paring books. 1 

Many are the proofs that a great share of the 
most eminent of the early fathers were men who 
had pursued a life of learning before embracing 
Christianity. Tertuilian was a Roman lawyer, 2 
Justin Martyr a philosopher, and continued, af- 
ter he embraced Christianity, while he was 
leading the self-denying life of an evangelist, to 
wear the cloak of the philosopher; 3 Arnobius 
was a Rhetorician, 4 Minucius Felix an Ad- 
vocate, 5 Augustine a teacher of Rhetoric, 6 which 
account may also be given of a multitude of 

1 Magdeburg Ceiituriators, Cent. ii. vii. p. 101, Cent. iv. 
pp. 41, 42, 286. Lardner, iii. p. 217. 

5 Neander, p. 425. 

3 Justin opened a Christian school at Rome, where he 
taught the new faith. Semisch, Life, &c. of Justin Mar- 
tyr, vol. i. p. 31. Aristides, Tertuilian, Heraclius, and 
Gregory Thaum. wore the pallium or cloak of the philo- 
sopher. Ibid. p. 26. 

* Neander, p. 428. 5 Ibid. 430. 

§ Wiggers, Augustinism, &c, p. 24. 



O*^ DISCOURSE ON 

others. Jerome's catalogue of ecclesiastical wri- 
ters, in which he mentions more than one hun- 
dred and thirty who had employed their pens in 
the service of Christ, shows that the early Chris- 
tian church was net wanting in an educated 
ministry, and did not despise the discipline of the 
schools. When Julian the apostate, who under- 
stood the theory of persecution well, overthrew 
Christianity, among the other skilful measures 
adopted with the view of producing this result 
he debarred Christian teachers from the schools, 
and utterlyprohibitedthem from lecturing on sci- 
ence and literature. 1 He plainly perceived that 
the very learning of Christian teachers gave them 
influence ; and by such restrictions he hoped to 
keep them in ignorance, and to deprive them of 
that great power which they exerted over the 
people. 

1 Waudington, Ch. Hist. p. 107, 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 83 



CH APTEK III . 

The next class of schools in which ministe- 
rial education was obtained, seems to have been 
the cathedral schools, which we trace down 
from the fifth century. The word cathedral, 
like the word church, had a different meaning 
originally, from that which it now bears. In the 
earliest times of the church, when heathenism 
yet bore sway, Christians had no liberty to erect 
houses of worship. 1 It is stated by some, that 
this liberty was not enjoyed till the times of 
Constantine, though this is not strictly true. 
But the term cathedral was in use, not to de- 
note an edifice used for religious purposes, but 
a presbytery assembled to transact the business 
of the church. 2 In the process of departure 
from the apostolic plan of church government, 
the moderator of Presbytery, the cathedralis or 
bishop, who was chairman of the Presbytery, be- 

1 Mosheim, vol. i. p. 107. 

2 Edin. Encyc. in verb. Cathedral. KaOeSpa, used of the 
Council of Nice, vide Du Gange in verbum. 



84 DISCOURSE ON 

came a perpetual moderator, and the prelatical 
form of government arose. This Bishop usu- 
ally resided at the metropolis of some province, 
and the large church in which was his cathedra 
or chair of office, received the name cathedral, 
which it has retained ever since. These were 
collegiate churches, having many presbyters 
connected with them, who sat on either hand of 
the Bishop, and who, being employed in various 
services connected with that one church, had 
abundant time to devote themselves to the busi- 
ness of instruction. With these cathedrals 
schools were united for the education of clergy- 
men, which were under the Bishop's immediate 
supervision, and in which his Presbyters taught. 
This was especially the case under Charle- 
magne, by whose express orders cathedral 
schools were erected in each diocess, where 
those youth set apart for the service of Christ, 
received a learned and pious education. 1 

The conventual schools in the next. century 
furnished another means of ministerial educa- 
tion. Most of the abbots opened schools in 
their monasteries, in which the more learned of 
the fraternity instructed those who were design- 
1 Mosheim, i. p. 487. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. OO 

ed for the monastic state or the priestly 
order. 1 

One of the most celebrated of these schools 
was the convent of Iona, a small island lying on 
the outer shore of Mull, one of the Hebrides or 
Western Islands on the coast of Scotland* 
This is an institution of peculiar interest, to 
which Scotland, England, and Ireland were in 
days of yore greatly indebted. 

According to Tertullian, 2 the gospel was 
preached through Britain in the second century. 
In the fifth, the Saxons, then a pagan race, in- 
vaded and conquered England, and the flying 
Britons escaped in different directions, carrying 
the gospel with them, to the north of Scotland, 
to Wales, the north of Ireland, and the north of 
France, 3 where they remain to this day. Colum- 
ba was born in Ireland, A. D. 521,. and first 
preached Christ, with great success, in his own 
country, and afterwards went on missionary 
labour to the neighbouring coast of Scotland. 
His preaching was attended with great success, 

1 Mosheim, p. 488. Asseman, T. iii. p. 935. 

2 Advers. Judaeos, c. 7, p. 139, also Chrysost. T. vi. p. 
635. Euseb. L. iii. 

3 Hence called Brittany. 



86 DISCOURSE ON 

and the Kino- of the Picts gave him the small 
island of Iona 1 as a reward for his disinterested 
exertions. He returned to Ireland, secured 
twelve assistants, and established himself on the 
island he had thus ubtained by the royal gift. 
Numbers resorted to them for religious instruc- 
tion, their little huts and rude chapels were soon 
superseded, and in a few years the island was 
covered with cloisters and churches, and inhab- 
ited by a numerous body of students and clergy- 
men. The establishment at Iona has been 
called a convent, but many of the convents of 
that day were hardly more of monastic institu- 
tions than are colleges and theological semina- 
ries now. 2 And the convent of Iona was an ex- 
tensive theological seminary and missionary 
school. The grand design and effort of Colum- 

1 Called also I, Hii, and Icolmkill. The original name was 
I, i. e. Island : I — columb — kill, the island of Columba's 
cell, or retreat. Jamieson, Ancient Culdees, pp. 3, 4, 5, 
354,355,356,357. 

2 " Our monasteries in ancient times were the semina- 
ries of the ministry ; being as it were so many colleges of 
learned divines, wheremito the people did usually resort 
for instruction, and from whence the church was wont con- 
tinually to be supplied with able ministers." — Archbishop 
Usher, Eeligionof the Ancient Irish and British, p. 41. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 87 

ba and his assistants was to train up men for the 
holy ministry. 

The government of the institution was under 
a principal and twelve assistants ; the instruction 
eminently scriptural, all authority except that 
of the Bible being wholly discarded. From this 
institution preachers were sent to England, Ire- 
land, Scotland, and Wales, and they even cross- 
ed the channel and carried the light of the gos- 
pel into Belgium and Germany. 1 Not less than 
a hundred similar institutions, modelled upon 
that of lona, were said to have arisen in different 
parts of Britain, in which missionaries and 
ministers were also trained. 

Such were the institutions of the ancient Cul- 
dees of Scotland, who maintained the pure doc- 
trines of God's word, and our own the Presby- 
terian and apostolic form of government, when 
<c all the world were wondering after the beast, 
and one thousand years before Christ was born. 
They held to the parity of ministers, and knew 
nothing, except by hearsay, of the prelatical form 
of government. They opposed the celibacy of 
the clergy, rejected the auricular confession, 

1 Jaraieson, Hist. Account of the Ancient Culdees,p. 91. 



88 DISCOURSE ON 

penance, absolution, confirmation, the use of 
the chrism in baptism, the worship of saints,, 
angels, and the virgin, and relied solely on the 
merits and righteousness of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. They commenced their efforts in Eng- 
land about the same time that Augustine and 
his forty monks arrived from Rome, they labour- 
ing in the north, and the Romish missionaries 
in the south. Their opposition to Rome may be 
judged of by the following extract from the 
poems of Tailiessin, who is supposed to have 
lived about a. d. 620 : 

" Wo be to that priest yborn, 
That will not cleanly weed his corn, 

And preach bis charge among : 
Wo be to that sheperd, I say, 
That will not watch his fold alway, 

As to his office doth belong : 
Wo be to him that doth not keepe 
From Romish wolves his erring sheepe, 

With staff and weapon strong." 1 

The kings of England, however, favoured 
the splendid ritual of Rome ; the Romish 

1 Usher, Religion of the Ancient Irish, p. 83, where the 
original Gaelic maybe seen. See also Mason's Primitive 
Christianity in Ireland, p. 43. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 89 

priests were intolerant and overbearing, and 
the Culdees, who could not conscientiously con- 
form, returned to Scotland, leaving the plains of 
the south to the ministers of Rome. 1 And, 
thanks to God ! the spirit of the old Culdees has 
never since been wholly extinguished in Scot- 
land, north Ireland, and Wales. It is honour- 
able to St. Columba and his establishment at 
Iona, that forty-eight kings of Scotland, four of 
Ireland, eight of Norway, and one of France, lie 
interred on that island, a fact which shows how 
much the Culdees were revered, and how widely 
their influence had extended. It was not till the 
fourteenth century, about the time that Wick- 
liffe arose in England, " the morning star of the 
Reformation," that the Culdee establishments 
were subjected by the Scotch kings to bishops 
connected with the see of Rome. 

Other establishments of the Culdees, spring., 
ing from that of Iona, existed at Abernethy, at 

1 Jamieson, Hist, of the Culdees, p. 91. The name 
Culdee is of uncertain etymology. It is derived by some 
from the Latin Cultor Dei, worshipper of God, while 
others derive it from the Gaelic Kyldee, from Cylle or Cuil 
a cell, in the plur. Celydi, those who occupy religious 
retreats. — Jamieson, p. 5. 

8* 



90 DISCOURSE ON 

Lochlevin, at St. Andrews, at Brechin, at Dum- 
blane, at Portmoak, Scone, Kirkcaldy, Culross, 
Mailros, Abercorn, Inchcolm, and other places 
in Scotland ; there was one at Bangor in Wales, 
containing some 2000 inmates; one in Cloger, 
and another at Armagh in Ireland, which was 
said to have been founded by St. Patrick. This 
institution, as well as the one before mentioned 
at Bangor, was very extensive. At one time it 
had 7000 students. Foreign students were sup- 
ported at the institution, and gratuitously fur- 
nished with lodging, diet, clothes, and books. 
Multitudes, both of the nobility and commoners 
of England, were educated here without charge. 
The institution was possessed of a valuable li- 
brary, and furnished with all the means neces- 
sary for a thorough course of study. The same 
was true of the convent of Iona, which was 
once rich in literary treasures. Nor are the 
above-mentioned all the institutions founded by 
the Culdees, and other Irish and Scotch divines. 
Columba founded Luxevil in Burgundy, Fon- 
tenelle, and Bobio near Naples; Gall, the ab- 
bey of Stinace, near lake Constance; Maidul- 
ple, the convent of Ingleborne, about a. d. 
676, where he instructed the English youth in 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 91 

classical literature ; Fursey, the monastery of 
Cnobersburg in Suffolk, about the year 637, 
and soon after the abbey of Laigni, in the 
diocese of Paris. Other conventual schools of 
great repute existed at Canterbury, York, West- 
minster, Tours, Rheims, Clermont, Paris, Saltz- 
burg, Ratisbon, &C. 1 

These conventual and cathedral schools 
eventually were discontinued, and were suc- 
ceeded by the universities, in most of which 
there were chairs of theology. These univer- 

1 Authority for the above facts may be found in Bede, 
Hist. Eccl. Anglorum, lib. ii. c. xix., lib. iii. c. iii., iv., v. 
xiv., xxv., xxvi., lib. iv, c. iv. See Opera T. iii. Jamie- 
son, Hist. Account of the Ancient Culdees, 4to. Edinburgh, 
1811. Archbp. Usher, Disc, of the Rel. anciently pro- 
fessed by the Irish and British. Mason's Primitive Chris- 
tianity in Ireland, Dublin, 1836. Stuart, Historical Me- 
moirs of the city of Armagh, Newry, 1819, particularly 
Appendix Nos. v. and xiii. Munter's Early British 
Church, Bib. Repository, vol. iv. p. 551, et seq. Dr. 
Pond's Essay on the Convent of Jona, Am. Quarterly 
Register for 1839, p. 153, et seq. Introd. by McGavin to 
John Knox's Hist, of the Reform, in Scotland. And the 
interesting account of the ancient Culdees, in " Presbytery 
not Prelacy the Scriptural and Primitive Polity," by Rev. 
Dr. Smyth of Charleston, b. iii. c. i. and ii. 



92 DISCOURSE ON 

sities bear date from the ninth to the sixteenth 
century. Of them all, the university of Paris was 
most famous as a theological school, especially 
after Robert de Sorbonne added to it the college 
which bore his name ; and, to use the language 
of Waddington, "associated that name for so 
many centuries with the theological labours, 
glories, and controversies of his countrymen." 1 
We cannot indeed say much of the learning of 
the body of the Romish clergy before the Re- 
formation. Facts show that they were ignorant, 
and blind leaders of the blind. The original 
languages of the Scriptures were neglected by 
them and despised. Conrad Heresbachius re- 
lates that he heard a monk declaiming in a 
church, who proclaimed his ignorance thus : 
" A new language is discovered, which is called 
Greek, and is the parent of all heresy. A book 
written in that language has every where got 
into the hands of persons, and is called the New 
Testament. It is a book full of daggers and 
poison. Another language is also sprung up, 
called the Hebrew, and those who learn it be- 
come Jews." When Erasmus endeavoured to 

1 Waddington, Ch. Hist. p. 376. Hallam's Middle Ages, 
Harpers Ed. p. 523, et seq. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 93 

restore a knowledge of the Greek among the 
clergy, he and all who abetted him became stig- 
matized as heretics. Hence the proverb, Cave 
a Greeds, nejias H&reticus ; Fuge liter as He~ 
brceos, ne jias Judesorum similis. Standish, 
Bishop of St. Asaph, in a declamation against 
Erasmus, styled him Grcecitlus iste, which, for 
a long time afterwards, was the name for a 
heretic. Degrees in divinity were conferred 
upon those who had scarcely ever read the Bi- 
ble ; and numbers of divines were far advanced 
in life before they had seen one. In the year 
1510 the university of Wittemberg registered 
in it's acts Andrew Carlostadt, afterwards one of 
the reformers, as sufficientissimus, for the de- 
gree of doctor of divinity, though he acknow- 
ledged that he never began to read the Bible 
till eight years after he had received his acade- 
mical honours. The Archbishop of Mentz, in 
1530, found a Bible lying on a table, opened it, 
and having read some pages, exclaimed, " In- 
deed, I do not know what this book is ; but 
this I see, that every thing in it is against us." 
" Even the faculty of theology at Paris," says 
Villers, in his admirable essay on the Reforma« 
tion, " maintained before the Parliament, that 



94 DISCOURSE ON 

religion was undone if the study of Greek and 
Hebrew was permitted.'' 1 

Still learning abode in the universities ; if not 
so sound and extensive as it afterwards became, 
yet not without its use in the discipline of the 
mind. In these institutions most of the early 
reformers were educated, and in many of them 
held professorships. WicklifFe occupied the 
theological chair in the University of Oxford, in 
which he was educated. John Huss was rector 
of the University of Prague. Luther, Melanc- 
thon, and Carlostadt, were professors at Wit- 
temberg ; CEcolampadius at Strasburg ; Peter 
Martyr, professor of theology successively at 
Strasburg, 2 Oxford, and Zurich, where was a 
theological school ; Martin Bucer at Stras- 
burg, and subsequently at Cambridge ; John 
Knox taught philosophy at the University of St, 
Andrews ; and Wishart at Cambridge ; Andrew 
Melville was principal of the University of Glas- 



1 Townley's Illustrations of Bib. Literature, vol. ii. pp. 
247, 256, 259. D'Aubigne, vol. i. p. 53. 

2 Henry's Leben Calvin's, ii. p. 479. Sturm, Hedio, 
Bucer, Capito, and Riger, belonged also to this faculty. 
Ibid, i. p. 211, 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 95 

gow. 1 Calvin accepted a professorship of the- 
ology at Geneva in 1536, declining the office 
of preacher, which was offered to him at the 
same time. He established a regular theological 
seminary in that city between 1543 and 1546, 
and the college of Geneva in 1559, at least thir- 
teen years after the theological school was form- 
ed. Of this college Beza was made rector and 
professor of theology. A theological seminary 
had been established at Zurich by Zuingle 
thirty-three years before, the basis of whieh 
was laid in the appointment of two professors 
of theology and two of the ancient languages. 2 

We might carry this array of facts still fur-* 
ther, and show that the Reformation was almost 
wholly effected by men of learning, and men 
who occupied posts of responsibility in schools 
of theology and halls of science. Particularly 
is it interesting to observe how greatly it was 
advanced by the study of the Scriptures in the 
Greek and Hebrew originals, which at once 
threw the mind loose from the long cherished 
corruptions of the Romish church. To these 

1 Hetherington, History of the Church of Scotland. 

2 Life of Zuingle by the Board of Publication, p. 72. 
D'Aubigne, vol. ii. b, vin\ 



96 DISCOURSE ON 

studies Reuchlin, Luther, Melancthon, andEras* 
mus, devoted themselves with the greatest en- 
thusiasm and assiduity. 1 Erasmus says at one 
period of his life, " I am firmly resolved to die 
in the study of the Scripture. This is my joy and 
my peace. " 2 To them each of the reformers in 
succession seemed to turn, as the eyes of the 
traveller, who has roamed over thirsty deserts 
for months, turns with gladness to the verdant 
plains and pleasant gardens which he has at 
length reached. Faber, Farel, Calvin, and Zu- 
ingle^ all sought the mind of God in his word, 
and in the original tongues, which the doctors 
of Rome thought a most fearful heresy. 3 The 
Hebrew Bible and the Greek Testament were 
constantly in their hands : they carried these 
with them when called to give their answer be- 
fore their superiors in church and state, and ever 
appealed to them as the best judges in all con* 
troversies. Stimulated by the example of his 
cotemporary reformers, and feeling the absolute 
need of such knowledge, John Knox applied him- 

1 D'Aubigne, i. pp. 141, 159, 170, 95, 97,iii. 69, 244. 

2 Ibid. i. p. 101. 

3 Ibid. iii. p. 351, 364, 373, 386, 397. Life of Zuin- 
gle, B'd of Pub'n, p. 14. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 97 

self to the study of Hebrew when he was fifty 
years of age, not having enjoyed an opportunity 
of acquiring this language in his early days. 1 

The reformed church of France (which was 
on the Genevan model, and Presbyterian in dis- 
cipline) made ample provision for the education 
of her ministry. She had five universities, viz. 
those of Montauban, Saumur, Nismes, Mont- 
pellier, and Sedan. At Montaban and Sau- 
mur were two professors of Philosophy, two of 
Divinity, one of Hebrew, and one of Greek. At 
Nismes and Montpellier two of Theology and 
two of Hebrew. 2 Poor students of theology 
were aided in prosecuting their studies, as is the 
case with us. 3 And belonging to these French 
Huguenots were some names which stand high 
among scholars for learning and talent. Bo- 
chart, Blondel, Claude, Saurin^ Allix, Daille, 
Cappel, Amyrald, Du Moulin, De Plessais, must 
be mentioned always with profound respect. 
Among the Presbyterians of Holland we see the 
same attention to education; and the extent to 

1 McCrie, Life of Knox. 

2 Lorimer's Protestant Church of France, pp. 142, 143, 
144. 

3 Ibid. p. 36, 37, 46, 47. 

9 



W BiSCOUtlSE Otf 

which it was carried is sufficiently shown by the 
mere names of Scaliger, Golius, Heinsius, Span- 
heim, Markius, Glass, Vitringa, Witsius, Stocks 
ius, Maestricht Reland, Lampe, Van Til, De 
Moor, Venema, Wetstein. 

The Assembly of Divines, with whom our ec- 
clesiastical standards originated, were, to use the 
words of Milton before he became indignant with 
them for denouncing his book " on divorce,' 5 " a 
synod in which piety, learning, and prudence were 
housed.'' 1 According to Baxter they were " men 
of eminent learning and godliness." " The Chris* 
tian world since the apostles have never had a 
synod of more excellent divines." 2 Among them 
are the names of Gataker, Lightfoot, Greenhillj 
Twisse, Reynolds, Tuckney; and among the lay- 
men, Selden, and Sir Matthew Hale, subsequent* 
ly Chief Justice of England, that distinguished 
ornament of the English bench. Selden was 
justly denominated the glory of England, for his 
distinguished and varied learning. Archbishop 
Usher used to say, " I am not worthy to carry 
his books after him*" 3 The members of this As* 

1 See Dedication of the Book to the Assembly; 

2 Orme's Life of Baxter, p. 71. 

3 Brooke's Lives of the Puritans* i. p. 68s 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 99 

sembly were educated in the English universities, 
and had been episcopally ordained. The care 
they took to prevent unworthy persons from en- 
tering the ministry, the Book of Discipline drawn 
up by them abundantly testifies; but after the 
Act of Uniformity was passed in 1662, by which 
2,500 faithful ministers were ejected from their 
livings because they could not conform to the 
Book of Common Prayer and the rites and cer- 
emonies of the Church of England, they could 
no longer be admitted to the universities, but 
were obliged to institute academies among them- 
selves for the education of their clergy. The 
earliest of these dissenting academies was com- 
menced in 1665, and the same method of train- 
ing up a ministry for their churches has contin- 
ued down to the present time. Among their 
teachers we find the names of Theophilus Gale, 
Thomas Vincent, Ridgley, Doddridge, John and 
David Jennings, Taylor of Norwich, Orton, 
Robertson, Aikin, Burdee ; and J. Pye Smith 
and Henderson now living. These academies 
have usually had two professors, one of theolo- 
gy and one of classical studies, to whom also in 
some instances a third has been added. The 
course of education extends usually over four 



100 DISCOURSE ON 

years, in one over six years, and consists of in- 
structions in the several departments of science, 
literature, and theology. These institutions have 
always been small. The catalogues of fifteen 
of them, published in the American Quarterly 
Register, exhibit the average number of the 
students as fourteen only. The smallest num- 
ber in any is seven, the largest thirty-two. Dr. 
Doddridge was accustomed to have under his 
care from thirty to forty students. These insti- 
tutions of the Dissenters seem not to have been 
very permanent, but to have continued for a sea- 
son, and been dissolved. A few of those which 
were first formed are still in existence. 1 

In our own country, measures were early 
taken to provide a succession of able ministers. 
The method of education which our fathers pro- 
posed was that of the college or university, to 
which they had been accustomed in the mother 
country. This object, mainly, led to the founda- 
tion of all our older colleges, which were de- 
signed, according to the express mention of 
their founders, for the education of men for the 

1 Bogue and Burnet's Hist, of the Dissenters,!, p. 239 — 
352 ; ii. p. 206— 242, 519—542, 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 101 

ministry. The zeal of the pilgrims in the cause 
of ministerial education, is strikingly shown in 
the establishment of Harvard University, the 
oldest of our seminaries of learning, which was 
commenced when their territory did not extend 
thirty miles on the coast, nor twenty in the 
interior and when the whoop of the savage and 
the howling of the wolf were yet heard around 
their dwellings. At this time, when the whole 
colony did not exceed 5000 families, they set 
apart a sum equalling a year's rate of the whole 
colony for the establishment of that college. 1 
The education of men for the ministry was dis- 
tinctly announced as their object by the found- 
ers of Yale and Princeton Colleges, and many 
others. The principal design of Dartmouth 
College was to educate Indian youth, and mis- 
sionaries to the Indian tribes of North Amer- 
ica. 2 Princeton College was founded by the 
Synod of New York after the famous schism of 
1741, for the purpose of supplying the church 
with learned and able preachers of the word. 

1 Quincy's Hist, of Harvard University, pp. 7,8. Ma- 
ther's Magnolia, vol. ii. p. 6. 

2 See Dr. Wheelock's Annual Narratives of Moor's In- 
dian Charity School, and of Dartmouth College. 

9* 



102 DISCOURSE ON 

The theological cast of our early American 
colleges, may be shown by a number of facts. 
In Harvard University, in its younger days, the 
students were required to read from the He- 
brew Bible at morning prayers, and from the 
Greek Testament at evening prayers, after which 
an exposition was given by the President. 1 
The Freshmen devoted a considerable portion 
of the year to etymology and syntax, not only in 
the English, but also in the Hebrew and other 
eastern tongues. The Sophomores united to 
their other studies the books of Ezra and Dan- 
iel in Chaldee ; Trostius's New Testament in 
Syriac was studied by the Juniors; and divin- 
ity was one of the studies of the Senior year. 2 
In other respects, the education in their col- 
leges was not only religious in its character, but 
especially intended to prepare young men for 
the ministry. " The exercises of the students," 
says President Quincy in his History of Har- 
vard College, " had the aspect of a theological 
rather than a literary institution. They were 

1 Mather's Magnolia, ii. p. 9. 

2 Law and Lawyers, by Hon. William D. Williamson, in 
Am. Quarterly Reg. vol. xv. p. 425. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 103 

practised twice a day in reading the Scriptures, 
giving an account of their proficiency and expe- 
rience in practical and spiritual truths, accom- 
panied by theoretical observations on the lan-« 
guage and logic of the sacred writings. They 
were careful to attend God's ordinances, and be 
examined on their profiting, commonplacing the 
sermons, and repeating them publicly in the 
hali." " In every year and every week of the 
college course, every class was practised in the 
Bible and catechetical divinity. This was the 
order of things during the seventeenth century. 
In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the 
Assembly's Catechism in Greek was recited by 
the Freshman class, and Wollebius's and Ames's 
Systems of Divinity by the other classes. Wol- 
lebius, Ames's Medulla, and Ames's Cases of 
Conscience, were also studied at Yale. 1 Simi- 
lar accounts might be given of other of the 
more early colleges of our country. These fea- 
tures have not even yet wholly passed away from 
these institutions in the lapse of years which 
have since revolved. The officers in the col- 
leges of the northern and especially of the east- 

1 President Quincy's Hist, of Harward College, c. ix. 
Bib. Repos. July 1841. 



104 DISCOURSE ON 

ern States, are almost always men of piety, and 
in most instances ministers of the Gospel. 
From one-fourth to one-half of the students are 
'•professors of religion, most of whom are look- 
ing forward to the ministry. 

It seems to have been the case in this coun- 
try in the earliest times, that the whole educa- 
tion of a young man preparing for the ministry 
was obtained at college. But colleges multi- 
plied slowly. Harvard University existed sixty- 
two years before Yale, and one hundred and 
four years before Princeton. The country out- 
stripped in population the facilities for obtain- 
ing a public education. 

The early ministers of the Presbyterian 
churches in this country were either emigrants 
from Ireland and Scotland, who were mostly 
educated in European universities, or were from 
the eastern States, and graduates of the New 
England colleges, or were raised within the 
bosom of the Presbyterian church in this coun- 
try. From the beginning the effort was made 
to keep up the standard of education among our 
ministers at the same level with that of minis- 
ters abroad. In the earliest times, the clergy 
originating among ourselves could not avail 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 105 

themselves of a college or university education, 
no institution of that kind being within their 
reach. Still the requirements of the book of 
discipline were before the candidates continu- 
ally, and though there was much in the condi- 
tion of the country to impede their progress, 
and some disposition on the part of ministers to 
ordain them with lower qualifications, the re- 
quirements of the book were in almost every 
instance met. A number of our worthiest min- 
isters were educated at the Log College, so 
familiarly called, on the banks of the Nesha- 
miny, in Pennsylvania, taught by "William Ten- 
nent the father, 1 who was a native of Ireland, 
and educated abroad. His sons, Gilbert Ten- 
nent William, John, Charles, all ministers, 
were educated by himself, as was also Samuel 
Blair, who instituted an academy at Fogg's 
Manor, in Pennsylvania, where were educated 
Dr. Rogers of New York, President Davies, 
Messrs. Finly, Cumming, Smith, and Henry. 2 
The Synod of Philadelphia, so early as 1742, 
sought aid of the General Assembly of Scotland, 
to establish a seminary for the education of 

1 In 1719 or 20. 

2 Dr. Miller's Life of Dr. Rogers, pp. 23 5 26, 



106 DISCOURSE ON 

ministers ; and in 1743, agreed upon the estab- 
lishment of an academy for this purpose, of 
which Mr. Alison, who was afterwards president 
of the university of Pennsylvania, was made Pre- 
ceptor. This school gave rise to the Newark 
Academy in Delaware, which was eventually 
chartered as a college, and has passed into the 
hands of Episcopalians. 1 At this Synodical 
school many of the most distinguished minis- 
ters of the next generation were prepared for 
their work. The Synod seems to have made 
some arrangement with the Faculty of Yale Col- 
lege, that their pupils should complete their stu- 
dies there. 2 Meanwhile the Synod of New- 
York were making efforts to provide for the 
education of ministers, out of which efforts the 
College of New Jersey at Princeton arose, whose 
first charter dates in the year 1746. In 1753, 
the Synod sent Gilbert Tennent and Samuel 
Davies to Scotland, to obtain funds for this col- 
lege ; and, in their address to the General Assem- 
bly they mention, among other reasons for grant- 
ing them aid, that " there are large settlements 
lately planted in various parts, particularly in 

1 Dr. Hodge, Hist, of the Pres, Church, ii, p. 360, 
* Ibid, p. 263. 



THEOLOGICAL ftbtJCATION* 10? 

North and South Carolina, where multitudes 
are extremely anxious for the ministers of the 
gospel/' l After the union of the two Synods, the 
same efforts were continued to promote minister 
rial education. In 1760, the United Synod of 
New York and Philadelphia made the attempt 
to appoint and support a Professor of Divinity ^ 
but failing, directed its students to study one 
year after leaving college under the care of 
some approved divine, and the first year after 
licensure^ to submit all their sermons to some 
minister of their presbytery " written fairly^ to 
have them corrected and amended/' 2 After 
several unsuccessful efforts to establish a pro* 
fessorship of Divinity at Princeton^ Dr. Wither* 
spoon, from Scotland, was inaugurated Presi- 
dent of the College, and the duties of a Pro* 
fessor of Divinity were devolved on him. 

In proportion as our colleges lost their com* 
paratively professional character, and became 

1 Hodge's Hist. p. 294. Lorimer's Pres. Ch. of France and 
Scotland, p. 393, et seq. This call was responded to. The 
Assembly appointed collections at the church doors through- 
out Scotland, which resulted in raising £2,529 ■, or upwards 
of $12,000 for this object. Lorimer, p. 395, 

9 Hodge's Hist. p. 361* 



108 DISCOURSE ON 

less devoted to the purpose of theological edu- 
cation, did the practice arise of studying The- 
ology after graduation, privately, with some dis- 
tinguished clergyman, The period of study 
was most usually short, often but a few months, 
more usually a year, and sometimes even more. 
Some ministers became celebrated as Teachers 
of Theology. Dr. Charles Backus of Somers in 
Connecticut, and Dr. Benton of Thetford, Ver- 
mont, were famous teachers. The first edu- 
cated some fifty theological students, and the 
last some sixty in whole or in part. And in our 
own church various clergymen might be named 
who were accustomed to superintend the theo- 
logical studies of candidates for the ministry. 1 
This was the plan on which Theological edu- 
cation was pursued in the Presbyterian Church 
of America, until early in the present century. 
The organization of the Theological Seminary 
of the Associate Reformed Church, by Rev. 
Dr. Mason of New York, in 1804, and of the 
Seminary at Andover, in 1808, opened a new, 
and, as was thought, a superior method of con- 
ducting a theological education. The imme- 

1 As Dr. Hall and Dr. McRea of North Carolina. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 109 

diate foundation of the institution last named, 
was occasioned by the loss of confidence in Har- 
vard University, the school of the Pilgrims, 
which had passed through the various stages of 
Arminian and Pelagian error, so quietly, how- 
ever, as not to have attracted attention, and was 
now with all its mighty influence secretly instill- 
ing the dangerous errors of Socinus into the 
young men of that portion of the country. The 
Rev. Dr. Morse, then of Charlestown, and Dr. 
Pearson, who recently had been a professor in 
that university, conceived the idea of ingrafting 
upon Phillip's Academy at Andover a Theo- 
logical department, in which students, after 
leaving college, should pursue a more ample 
course of theological study than they had been 
accustomed to do under private instruction, and 
with the view also of encountering the destruc- 
tive errors of Cambridge. The munificent 
founder of Phillip's Academy had made pro- 
visions for the gratuitous instruction of a num- 
ber of indigent young men who should wish to 
obtain an education for the ministry. This de- 
termined them to erect their proposed seminary 
on that foundation. At the same time, Dr. 
Spring the elder, and the Rev. Dr. Woods, 
10 



f 



ilO DISCOURSE ON 

now of Andover, had conceived a similar pro* 
ject, and had fixed on another situation for the 
institution they thought of establishing. For- 
tunately for this great enterprise, both projects 
were united in one, and God raised up a few 
men, engaged in extensive commercial pursuits, 
who, with a liberality unknown before or since 
in this country, furnished an endowment suffi- 
cient to give the experiment the fairest trial ; a 
more ample endowment than any other similar 
institution in this country has since obtained* 
The founders never supposed that their effort 
would meet with the success which has attended 
it. They thought that their institution might 
be resorted to at some day by some thirty stu- 
dents • but it has since seen nearly or quite one 
hundred and fifty within its walls at one time ; 
and, from the beginning, the plan has approved 
itself to the majority of those who have observed 
its operations. 

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church followed the example which had been 
thus set, and in 1812 founded the Princeton 
Seminary, whose history is too well known to be 
repeated here, which has educated some eight 
hundred of our clergy, and, in other ways, has 
exerted a great influence upon the church. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. Ill 

This, which is now the American system of 
Theological education, has, as my hearers well 
know, become widely extended ; the old insti- 
tutions of Cambridge and Yale have superadded 
seminaries to their own colleges for the educa- 
tion of their own students seeking the ministry, 
that they may maintain their ancient standing, 
and diffuse those theological sentiments which 
have found their home in those institutions, to 
establish which the Puritans made such sacri- 
fices, and over which they have poured out so 
many prayers. 

The too great multiplication of Theological 
schools in this country, we now feel to be an 
evil. We ought to have acted with more con« 
cert, and united our forces on a sufficient num- 
ber of institutions wisely located, under the im- 
mediate and strict supervision of the church, 



112 DISCOURSE ON 



; CHAPTER IV. 

Having now completed this history of Theo- 
logical Education, which, though long, might 
have been much more extended and minute, 
it behooves us to review the whole, and gather 
those lessons of practical wisdom which the 
history of the past, upon proper reflection, 
always suggests. 

I. And the first and most obvious remark 
we make is, that the mini st 7* y of the true church 
of God has always been an educated ministry. 

We have seen that it was so during the times 
of revelation. Go where you will in the history 
of the church, and whenever and wherever 
true religion has existed in the midst of her, 
you have seen her not despising, but valuing 
and seeking after sanctified learning. The tal- 
ents the Master has committed to her, you have 
not seen her wrapping in a napkin and hiding 
in the earth, but trading with them, gaining 
other talents, and employing all for the use of 
her Lord. There have been times indeed when 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 113 

corruption has pervaded the church, and when, 
under a crowd of ceremonies and a hateful 
brood of errors and superstitions, the pure doc- 
trines of the word have been eclipsed and well 
nigh forgotten. But it has been at periods 
when ignorance pervaded the clergy, and was 
nursed and cherished as the mother of devo- 
tion. 

But the most remarkable testimony which we 
have yet adduced in favour of an educated min- 
istry, is the fact that God chose men as pro- 
phets who were either educated already, or 
were led to procure in the ordinary way the 
knowledge they required. Even the Holy Spirit 
who inspired them, chose to inspire men who 
had diligently improved the powers God had 
bestowed, and so gave his testimony to the need 
of discipline of mind and extent of knowledge. 
Though he could speak by means of a dumb 
beast, and reprove by it the. madness of the pro- 
phet, he chose to use intelligent agents in com- 
municating his will, to use them as such, and 
not as mere machines ; and in using them 
they acted freely while acted upon by the Spirit 
which moved them ; and in acting, in waiting 
what the Spirit chose they should write, have 
10* 



114 DISCOURSE ON 

exhibited the traces of their own genius and 
the evidences of their own culture. Two 
agents concurred in each sentence of the divine 
volume, the infinite and all-wise Spirit, and the 
prophet's own mind with whatever of culture it 
had before received. We direct your attention 
again to the appointment of Moses and Aaron, to 
the Levitical priesthood, to the prophetic schools, 
to the ministry of the Baptist, to the three 
years, education of the twelve apostles in the best 
school of Theology ever yet taught, and men- 
tion as our inference from the facts we have 
related, this declaration, That the ministry of 
his church should be learned as well as pious, 
is plainly the will of God. 

II. But inasmuch as what has already been 
said is a sufficient illustration of this point, we 
proceed, in the second place, to show, that 

Sanctified learning has ever been conducive 
to the purity, soundness, and influence of the 
church. 

It is not without a perfect knowledge of the 
unspeakable evils which philosophy and science 
falsely so called have produced, that this asser- 
tion is made. Arianism, Pelagianism, and So- 
cinianism, have been pre-eminently the heresies 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 115 

of the learned. And yet, not out of true learning 
have they arisen, but out of a depraved and un- 
sanctiried heart, perverting the mind and seiz- 
ing upon its endowments as the instruments of 
evil. It was not the high intelligence of Satan 
that was the cause of his fall, though he now 
uses those once noble endowments in his fear- 
ful controversy with God. But while he roams 
through the universe plotting and executing re- 
bellion, the angels that have never sinned, with 
superior intelligence, are circumventing the foul 
seducer and covering him with defeat. And so 
among men, the unbeliever and the heresiarch, 
under the government of a depraved will, em- 
ploy their talents and education in constructing 
arguments for sanctified learning to overthrow, 
that it may win new triumphs for the glorious 
cause of righteousness and truth. As it hath 
been it shall always be. Gog and Magog shall 
yet muster their hosts from the regions of Cim- 
merian darkness, and come up like locusts upon 
the mountains of Israel, and compass the camp 
of the saints about and the beloved city ; the 
great battle of Armageddon shall be fought, and 
their carcasses shall be given to the beasts of the 
earth and the fowls of the air. Arius has had 



116 DISCOURSE ON 

an Athanasius, Pelagius an Augustine, and 
Rome a Luther, to oppose and defeat them. 
And learning, under the influences of the Holy 
Spirit, has ever won the most signal triumphs for 
the cause of truth. The heresies of ignorance 
have been equally numerous and perhaps equally 
fatal with those of science and philosophy. 
The Millenarians of the ninth century, the 
Mormons and Millerites of this, the Anabaptists, 
the Fifth Monarchy men, the Shakers, Quakers, 
and many other strange sects have arisen out of 
the dreams of ignorance, and ofttimes disturbed 
in a fearful manner the peace of society. 

The amazing influence of a learned ministry 
we have not now time to illustrate. See it at 
the era of the Reformation, in overturning the 
Papal superstition through so many countries, 
in setting free so many enslaved minds, and 
spreading so widely through the world the bless- 
ings of civil liberty. 

Julian the Apostate well understood the pow- 
er of an educated ministry, when, desirous of 
restoring the ancient paganism of the Roman 
Empire, now in a measure displaced, he opened 
the schools to pagans, and forbade any Christian 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 117 

to lecture in them : when he sought to render 
pagan priests men of learning, and to destroy 
those institutions which had once existed for 
the education of the youth of the church. 

III. There are many reasons why the Christian 
ministry should be composed of men of learning. 

1. They are professedly teachers. The 
priests' lips should keep knowledge. The very- 
profession of teaching implies an aptitude for 
its duties, which discipline of mind and exten- 
sive information alone can convey. 

2. They are teachers of the Bible, the book of 
God, written many centuries ago in languages 
exceedingly dissimilar to the one we speak, to 
acquire which well, requires years of study. 
And surely he who would interpret the Scrip- 
tures should seek the mind of the Spirit in the 
words the Spirit used, and not in the words 
substituted for them in translating by fallible 
man. This the Reformers well understood. 
Hence we find them studying the Hebrew and 
Greek Scriptures, and preparing commentaries 
on them for the edification of the people of God. 
So sensible was John Knox of the deficiency he 
laboured under from the want of the Hebrew, 
that we find him, as has been already mention- 



118 DISCOURSE ON 

ed, 1 commencing the study of it at fifty years of 
age, with all the ardour of a young man. 

3. Theology now has become exceedingly 
rich in its literature. So many of the first 
minds have been employed upon it in past years, 
that there is no topic which has not been ably 
and amply elucidated by many men. The wri- 
tings of these men we must study. They are of 
every age and nation, and in various languages 
which are or have been spoken on the earth. 
To study them we must first have no small share 
of education ; we must have the key which un- 
locks their hoards of treasured wisdom, There 
is no profession which so much needs a know- 
ledge of books as ours. It is my own belief that 
no one equals it in the possession of that which 
is commonly called learning, 

4. But society itself is on the advance in 
knowledge. All the professions are advancing. 
We must at least advance with them, and if 
possible keep before them, or be despised. At 
least let us try to reach those heights of 
knowledge our fathers before us occupied ; let 
us know enough to commune with them, and to 
drink in the knowledge with which their urn is 
continu-ally filled. 

1 P. 97, 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 119 

IV. Ministers in all ages have ordinarily been 
educated in each other's society, and this with 
exceeding profit to themselves. 

It has often been remarked that great men 
arise in clusters. In the literary and moral fir- 
mament they do not appear shining in solitary 
splendour, but grouped into constellations and 
mingling their radiance. Men assist in forming 
sach other ; Luther Melancthon, and Melanc- 
thon Luther. As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth 
the countenance of a man his friend. In this 
respect two are better than one, and a threefold 
cord is not easily broken. And this I conceive 
to be a legitimate argument for a public rather 
than a private education in Theology. Mind 
stimulates mind. By conversation and debate 
truth is elicited. The thoughts of others quick- 
en our own thoughts, and often give them a di- 
rection which of themselves they would not take. 
The dead sea, the stagnant passiveness, of the 
solitary student is broken and moved into action 
by the intellectual activity around him. And 
there is none so poor that he cannot contribute 
something either to the intellectual wealth or 
the more perfect moral symmetry of his brother. 
Those faults of character and manner which the 



120 DISCOURSE ON 

solitary student would never discover of himself, 
are detected and exposed by his fellow-students, 
and are corrected. Those narrow views of the- 
ological science which if left to himself he might 
be led to take, he cannot entertain when study- 
ing in a seminary appropriated to theological 
learning, where the whole field is exposed to his 
view, and the different branches of knowledge 
obtruded upon him. 1 Those few writers whom 
in a retired situation he would come to know, 
in a public institution furnished with a proper 
library he would soon find were not all, and 
possibly not the best on the subjects which he 

1 There are many young men looking forward to the 
ministry, to whom a course of three years' study in theology 
in a seminary seems a long time, who cannot see how so 
many years can be occupied in the mere study of divinity, 
and in preparation for the labours of the pulpit. They ex- 
claim with the covetous disciples, when the alabaster box 
was broken in their presence and its precious perfume was 
wafted towards them, " To what purpose is this waste ! 
It might have been sold for three hundred pence and given 
to the poor." A few weeks' residence in one of our schools 
of the prophets shows them their error, and fills them with 
exclamations at the narrowness of their former views, and 
at the boundless extent of that course of investigation and 
discipline upon which they have entered. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 121 

would wish to investigate. He who, educated 
privately, would have an overweening confidence 
equally removed from true piety and the mod- 
esty of true science, were he placed in an insti- 
tution where he could come in contact with other 
enlightened minds, would soon learn his true 
position in society and in the church, and would 
be free from that obstinate dogmatism which is 
so destructive of harmonious action in the min- 
isters of the gospel, and so ofTensiveTto the judi- 
cious and the refined. At the same time he who 
undervalues his own powers would learn by com- 
parison to form a true estimate of himself, would 
be valued according to his true worth by others, 
and would be drawn forth into that activity 
which is essential to a minister of Christ He 
will go forth, too, not alone, but will be acquaint- 
ed with a portion at least, and an important one, 
of the generation of ministers with whom he is 
to labour, who will always be ready to assist 
him with their aid and counsel. Seminary 
friendships for a season are exceedingly strong, 
and, during the earlier period of ministerial life, 
valuable to the youthful herald of the cross. 

We are well aware that there are examples to 
the contrary of all this ; that there are men with 
11 



122 DISCOURSE ON 

powerful minds, and indomitable spirit,* wh@ 
have risen to the very summits of knowledge 
and usefulness without these advantages. There 
are men who have risen from the depths of pov- 
erty, and have held through a great part of their 
lives the tools of the artisan, who have con- 
quered every difficulty, and occupy the highest 
places in the several professions. These are the 
exceptions. Genius will hew out for itself its 
own way to the stars, while drowsy dulness will- 
doze away its listless life, even at the feet of 
Plato, or within hearing of Isaiah's lyre. But 
we now speak of the majority of men, and not in 
relation to these extraordinary examples of men 
gifted by God with unusual power. 

V. It is believed to follow, from these remarks T 
that institutions for the special education of 
ministers, when unselif conducted, are fraught 
with blessings to the Church of God, 

Besides the advantages to the theological stu- 
dent from associating with his fellow-students, 
and having furnished to his hand in these insti- 
tutions the means and material of knowledge, 
in the writings of the honoured dead, it may 
perhaps without impropriety be added, since it 
flows from the law of our nature, that those 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION, 123 

whose sole business it is to teach in the depart- 
ments of theology should become more truly 
and extensively able to impart instruction in 
that branch of study, than those who are inces- 
santly occupied with the engrossing cares of a 
congregation, often large, and always requiring 
the utmost efforts of him who is placed over it 
in the Lord. And then it is the case with these 
institutions, if ably officered, and if they can pass 
that state of infancy in which too many of them 
in this country as yet are held, that they become 
the sources of light and quickening religious 
influence to the church at large. We know 
that the influence of our oldest Theological 
Seminary in the Presbyterian Church is evil 
spoken of by some, but we believe without any 
sufficient reason. Our other seminaries are too 
young, too oppressed with difficulties and ham- 
pered with efforts to obtain for themselves an es- 
tablishment, to have accomplished much in this 
particular as yet 

But there is another point of view in which 
these instructions are exceedingly useful : in the 
contributions which they will eventually make 
to the religious and theological literature of our 
land. Already are the treatises and works pro- 



124 DISCOURSE ON 

duced by the teachers in our older institutions 
considerable, both in number and in value, al- 
though the first generation of professors of the- 
ology in this country has not yet passed away. 
And it must be remembered that, from the con- 
stant use which a professor has for his own lit- 
erary productions, none except those which are 
occasional will probably see the light until he 
himself expires. In these seminaries, when con- 
stituted as they should be, there is that division 
of labour which gives to one man some depart- 
ment on which he may expend all his powers, 
and in which, occupied on it continually, he 
ought to become perfect. The necessity of 
studying for others< and the great responsibili- 
ties under which they teach, ought to make, and 
in most cases do make, our professors thorough, 
and induce them to leave no point unexplored, 
and to state all things with that clearness and 
precision which doctrinal instruction ought ever 
to assume. " We cannot," says Dr. Chalmers, 
" imagine a more favourable condition for the 
formation of a great literary work, that shall have 
solid and enduring excellence, than that which 
is occupied by an ardent and devoted professor, 
whose course, by means of reiterated elabora- 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 125 

lions, receives a slow, it may be, but withal a 
sure and progressive improvement. Only con- 
ceive him to be fully possessed with his subject, 
and giving the full strength of his mind to its 
elucidation ; and then, with the advantages of 
perseverance, and time, and frequent reiteration 
of the topics of his lectureship, he is assuredly in 
the best possible circumstances for bequeathing 
to posterity some lasting memorial of industry 
or genius. It is by the remodellings and revis- 
ings every year of his yet imperfect prepara- 
tions ; it is by strengthening what is weak, and 
further illustrating what is obscure, and fortify- 
ing some position or principle by a new argument, 
and aiding the conception of his pupils by some 
new image, or new analogy ; it is thus, that the 
product of his official labours may annually ac- 
quire increasing excellence, and gradually ap- 
proximate to a state of faultlessness, until at 
length it comes forth in a work of finished exe- 
cution, and becomes a permament addition to 
the classical and literary wealth of the nation. 
It is not so often by flashes of inspiration, as by 
power and patience united, that works are rear- 
ed and ripened for immortality. It is not in the 
tsasty effervescence of a mind under sudden and 
11* 



126 DISCOURSE ON 

sanguine excitement that a service so precious 
to society is generally rendered. It is when a 
strong, and at the same time a steadfast mind 
gives its collected energies to the task ; and not 
only brings its own independent judgment, but 
laboriously collecting the lights of past erudi- 
tion, brings them also to bear on the subjects of 
its investigation, — it is thus that treatises are 
written and systems are framed which eclipse 
the volumes of their predecessor, and taking 
their place become themselves the luminaries of 
future ages." 1 

The history of all literature substantiates these 
remarks of Dr. Chalmers. " If we except the 
poets, a few orators, and a few historians," says 
Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations, kf the far 
greater part of the other men of letters, both of 
Greece and Rome, appear to have been either 
public or private teachers ; this remark will be 
found to hold true, from the days of Lysias and 
Isocrates,. of Plato and Aristotle, down to those 
of Plutarch and Epictetus, of Suetonius and 
Quinctiliam" " Greatly more than half the dis- 

1 Chalmers on Endowments, chap. i. § 28. Pusey on 
Cathedral Institutions, pp. 59-61- 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 127 

tinguished authorship of Scotland," according to 
Dr. Chalmers, " is professional, the actual pro- 
duct of the labours of professors, in their capacity 
of teachers, and passed into authorship through 
the medium of their respective chairs." 1 

The same is eminently true in the department 
of theology. Calvin's commentaries we so much 
prize are the product of his Theological Lec- 
tures. 2 So are the works of Turretine, Pictet, 
Witsius, Ridgley, Brown of Haddington, Dick, 
Hill, and Dwight, and others almost innumera- 
ble. " Almost the whole of German divinity is 
the result of professional duties : there can scarce- 
ly be produced the name of any writer of emi- 
nence in that country, to whom the leisure, the 
occasion, and the foundation of his works, was 
not supplied by these employments." 3 The same 
is true of much of the practical theology design- 
ed for popular perusal. Of the forty-seven trans- 
lators of the English Bible, five only were 
parochial ministers, the rest were members of 
Cathedrals, or Professors, Heads, or Fellows of 
Colleges. 

1 Chalmers on Endowments, chap. i. § 27. 

2 Henry Leben Calvin's, p. 342. 

3 Pusey on Cathedral Institutions, pp. 62, 63, 



128 DISCOURSE ON 

These remarks hold equally of the Protestant 
cantons of Switzerland, of the Protestant coun- 
tries of Germany, Holland, Sweden, and Den- 
mark. 1 We could establish this, did time allow, 
by a large array of facts, which would be inter- 
esting to the scholar ; but these will be suffi- 
cient to show that, through all Protestant Europe 
the greatest share of the literature, both general 
and theological, has resulted from the labours 
of those holding the office of instructors in sem- 
inaries of learning. The full benefit of these in- 
stitutions to our own country has not yet been 
felt. We are a young people, our institutions 
young and struggling for existence. The oldest 
Theological Seminary in the United States has 
as yet existed but thirty-five years, and has not 
yet seen the second generation of teachers, Yet 
have Drs. Porter and Woods, and Professor Stu- 
art, of that Seminary, and Drs. Alexander, Mil- 
ler, and Hodge, of Princeton, already made most 
valuable contributions to the theological learn- 
ing of our yet youthful country. Should our 
seminaries be continued and preserved free from 
error, we may anticipate that they will be still 
richer blessings to the American Church. 

1 Smith, Wealth of Nations. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 129 

VI. But we further remark, that to have these 
results follow, these institutions must be sustain- 
ed with adequate endowments, and obtain the re- 
quisite degree of stability, and not be forced ah 
ivays to feel that their breath is in their nostrils, 
and that the next moment they may expire. 

How often has it been the case that, so far as 
can now be seen, our own institution would have 
ceased to be, had it rested on the daily charities 
of the church, which are withheld on the slight- 
est depression in business, or the merest breath 
of unfounded suspicion, or the disfavour of the 
populace to-day, which may banish Aristides 
for no better reason than mere weariness at 
hearing him called " the Just." It is a bless- 
ing to the church, if the institution itself be a 
blessing at all, that there have been friends of 
the Redeemer benevolent and wise enough to 
give it a partial endowment, which has pre- 
served it amid the pressure of the times ; and a 
distinguished kindness for which we ought to 
be grateful to Christ our Head, that when the 
funds of other and more useful institutions have 
been dissipated, our own are preserved with 
comparatively little loss. The endowments of 
similar institutions have ordinarily consisted of 



130 DISCOURSE ON 

funds for the support of professors, and for the 
preservation and increase of the library, and 
bursaries, foundations, or scholarships, for the 
support of indigent candidates for the holy 
ministry. Such an institution ought to be 
made immediately, and directly responsible to 
the judicatories of the church, in all its officers 
and members, who ought to be liable at any mo- 
ment to censure or removal for any justifiable 
cause ; while the faithful officer should not have 
the sinews of effort cut by the feeling, that to- 
morrow all his labours to build up an institu- 
tion, extended over the most precious years of 
his life, are to be blown away by the breath of 
dissatisfaction, which is without any just and 
adequate ground. Both the minister in his 
congregation, and the teacher in his chair, 
should feel that he will be supported. He should 
not feel that he is a traveller lodging in his 
office for a night, or a passenger passing a day 
on board a ship, but one who will spend some 
few years of that brief life which God shall give 
him in faithful devotion to the labours of his 
station. 

It has been in connection with this sense of 
permanence in office or place, that most of those 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 131 

names which have adorned the church of our 
mother land have attained their distinction and 
influence. Archbishop Cranmer spent twenty-six 
years at the university, Bishop Ridley seventeen, 
Bishop Jewell nineteen, Archbishop Whitgifi 
nineteen, Reynolds thirty-two, " the judicious 
Hooker" seventeen, Pococke twelve, Archbishop 
Tillotson ten, Whitby eleven,.Prideaux eighteen, 
Kennicott never left the university. 1 Borne of 
these men were professors in the colleges, but 
many of them did not hold this office, but were 
supported in connection with these institutions, 
w 7 hile they devoted their labours to the interests 
of the church. Their names are mentioned here 
merely to show that permanence of situation, to 
which endowments conduce, is favourable to 
those scholarlike labours which the church 
needs. Endowments for institutions of learn- 
ing, ecclesiastical and secular, we believe to be 
not only useful, but necessary. Men will sup- 
ply themselves with food, because the demands 
of appetite cannot be resisted ; with clothing, 
because their nakedness must be covered ; and 
funded and eleemosynary institutions to supply 

1 Pusey on Cathedral Institutions, Appendix B. 



132 DISCOURSE ON 

ihem with these are wholly unnecessary. Not 
such is the appetite for knowledge — not such 
the craving of the common mind for informa- 
tion and enlargement of views, especially on the 
things of religion. This knowledge must be 
offered, nay, obtruded, and all the facilities for 
procuring it be furnished, and the highway be 
opened to it as much as possible without toll or 
expense. Nor must we in general depend on 
states for these endowments. In all institutions 
at least connected with the church, they must 
come from individuals, and for safety 1 sake should 
be vested in those bodies in which the govern- 
ing power of the church rests. The want of 
ministers, the dearth of labourers in the church, 
led originally to the foundation of colleges in 
England, Scotland, and America. 1 And^the 
same cause is operating still. The same ne- 
cessity also led to the endowment of these insti- 
tutions ; and these endowments, even across the 
water, were not made by the funds of the State, 
but by private benefactions. 2 All the founda- 

1 Chalmers on Endowments, c. ii. 1. 

2 Pusey on Cathedral Institutions, p. 16. An annual sum 
of less than £1000, is distributed by government between 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 133 

lions of Cambridge and Oxford bear still the 
names of their founders ; and even where these 
founders have been kings, the benefaction has 
come from them, not as kings, but as private 
persons; the funds in every instance coming 
not from the public, but from their own private 
purses. 

In our own country, commercial men have 
been the greatest benefactors to the church 
through these foundations, and in some in* 
stances have made our colleges and seminaries, 
as it were, favourite children upon whom they 
have bestowed, with great satisfaction to them- 
selves and benefit to the public, a liberal portion 
of their surplus wealth. There is probably no 
higher happiness in this world than the happi- 
ness of that man whose labours have been at- 
tended with the divine blessing, so that he has 
acquired the wealth men seek after so much 
that they may expend it on themselves, but who 
chooses to employ it in founding those institu- 
tions which will bless the world with their hal- 
lowed influences in his own generation, and 

Oxford and Cambridge, while these colleges pay to the state 
for their privileges, about .£3000 each. 
12 



134 DISCOURSE ON 

convey blessings down to future times, when he 
is resting in his grave. 

VII It remains that we should consider^thost 
objections which have been raised in different quar- 
ters against these institutions which the wisdom 
and piety of the church, seeking its best good, 
have brought into being. 

We acknowledge that all the works of man 
are imperfect, all liable to failure and perver- 
sion, and that these institutions are not exempt 
from this general liability of every thing around 
us. Even " those only corporations which God 
has established, the family, the state, and the 
church," which are said to be " the only ones 
which are absolutely safe and beneficent," may 
be corrupt and perverted, and become the 
nurseries of sin, and the instruments of oppres- 
sion, suffering, and crime. Alas ! the depravity 
of man pollutes even the fountains of human 
happiness, and makes those very institutions 
God has devised, the means of its own perpetu- 
ation, the very instruments with which it makes 
fearful havoc of the hopes and well being of 
man. 

Even the marriage relation before the flood 
filled the earth with deeds of violence; the 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 135 

church (for the love of God it is said) has 
peopled the dungeons of the Inquisition with the 
tortured saints of the Most High, and civil gov- 
ernments have warred against our Lord and his 
Christ. The pages of history are far more fill- 
ed with deeds of darkness done by the sons of 
men in their several associated capacities, than 
with deeds of kindness and mercy. That these 
institutions may be abused, and may degenerate, 
cannot well be plead as an argument against 
them, since not even divine institutions are ex- 
empt from this melancholy fate at the hands of 
man. It has been said that ' Theological Sem- 
inaries were not contemplated by our standard.' 
True, because, exactly in the form in which they 
are now conducted, they did not exist at the 
time in which our standards were framed. A 
different and inferior mode of educating the min- 
istry was then in being, inferior in its plan, 
though not perhaps in its execution. Our Di- 
rectory, like the New Testament, prescribes 
that the ministry should be educated, but says 
nothing as to the method of their education. 
The members of the Westminster Assembly of 
Divines were in fact educated at the Universi- 
ties of England and Scotland, and expected that 



136 DISCOURSE ON 

the future ministers of the church would pass 
through the same course of instruction. 

We have well considered the several methods 
of Theological education prevailing at the pres- 
ent time in England, Scotland, and Germany, 
and we hesitate not to say that our own theory in 
this country is more perfect, better suited, if fully 
carried out, to make able ministers, and to cul- 
tivate the spirit of true piety, as well as true 
learning. Were our classical academies as per- 
fect as they should be, the standard of attain- 
ment in our colleges as high, and the students 
applying at our seminaries as far advanced, we 
can conceive of nothing so well adapted to qual- 
ify them for the ministry, as to be collected to- 
gether into one sacred family, under the imme- 
diate care and watch of pious and intelligent di- 
vines, and subject to the constant and Christian 
influence of each other. Neither the German, 
English and Scotch Universities, nor the Dis- 
senting Academies of Great Britain, present to 
our view a system whose theory is so perfect. 
At the same time it must be admitted that the 
circumstances of our new country, the demands 
of a fast extending church ever crying for la- 
bourers, tend to draw downwards the standard of 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 137 

education, and prevent our superior system 
from accomplishing all which in its own nature 
it is suited to effect. 

The Dissenters' Academies in England take 
the pious youth, often without an education as yet, 
and under the guidance of two, or at most three 
instructors, in four years' time carry him through 
a course of study in the classics, sciences, and 
theology, which in this country, on our present 
plan, could only be completed properly in nine 
years. 1 It does not fall within the limits of this 
discourse to enter fully into the various systems of 
education for the ministry prevailing in Europe. 
A brief view only is what we now attempt to give. 
The student of theology in Germany, after pass- 
ing through the Gymnasium, where he is tho- 
roughly trained in the Greek and Latin classics, 
becomes a member of the University, which, 
strictly speaking, is a Professional School in 
which men are trained for the profession of 
Law, Medicine, or Theology. If now these 
students were of suitable age, of settled princi- 

1 For the method of instruction in the Dissenters' Acade- 
mies, under different distinguished teachers, see Appendix 
A. 

12* 



138 DISCOURSE ON 

pies, of strong religious character, and of ma- 
ture mind, he might resist the irreligious influ- 
ence around him, and profit by the numerous 
lectures of the professors ; but instead of this, 
" he passes at once from boyhood to manhood ; 
at once, instead of discipline and control, he is 
left almost unfettered," remains in the univer- 
sity three years in attendance upon lectures not 
adapted to the imperfect state of his knowledge, 
and the unformed character of his mind. These 
lectures, which his mind is too immature to use 
aright, he copies down ; is a passive recipient of 
whatever his professor pours in ; l in most cases 
is without originality and independence ; lives 
as he lists, without any special personal supervi- 
sion of his officers; attends for the most part upon 
no religious duties ; the student of theology living 
and acting as other young men, often mingling 
in their brawls and carousings, applies for a place 
in the church, saying, " Put me in the priest's of- 
fice that I may eat a piece of bread ;" and ob- 
tains his place if he can pass those examinations 
which the government and the consistory re- 

2 Pusey in Bib. Repository, vol. ii. p. 572. Bib. Repos. 
i. 2, 11, 223, 224,226,416, 426. Pusey on Cath. Instit. 
pp. 42, 43. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 139 

quire, who never ask, so far as we can learn, 
whether he be a child of God and qualified to 
lead others to the Saviour of men. 

In the English Universities those intended for 
holy orders are educated with the rest, with no 
other theological education than laymen obtain, 
acquire a far more extensive classical education 
it is supposed than the students of any other 
country, but after graduation are required to re- 
side only one fortnight, or six or eight weeks at 
best, employed in the study of theology ; just long 
enough to hear "one short course of twelve 
lectures from the Regius Professor of Divinity, 
consisting for the most part of a general survey 
of the different subjects of theology, and a 
recommendation of those books by which the 
student may conveniently pursue the subject for 
himself." 1 This is the testimony of the Pro- 
fessor of Hebrew in the University of Oxford, 
who proposes, in order to remedy this defect, 
that the cathedral schools of the sixth century 
should be revived ; that with the cathedrals 
theological seminaries should be connected, at 

1 Pusey on Cathedral Institutions, p. 25, 55, 56. See 
also in Bib. Repos. vol. ii. p. 570. 



140 DISCOURSE ON 

which candidates should spend two years after 
completing the university course. An involun- 
tary testimony, the more valuable because un- 
intentional, and from a most competent person, 
to the superior utility of our American plan. 
The English have thrown off the professional 
part of the old University system and retained 
the preparatory : the Germans have thrown off 
the preparatory and retained the professional, 
and the gentleman mentioned above says that if 
the inquiry be made, " What direct theological 
education have we for the candidates for holy 
orders?" — the answer must be, "absolutely 
none." 1 

In Scotland students are received into the 
universities we believe without any examination, 
often without any knowledge of Greek and not 
much of Latin, at quite too early a period of 
life, when, according to Dr. Chalmers, they are 
too little able to profit by that system of lectur- 
ing adopted in those universities. " The great 
defect of our system," says this distinguished 
man, " is, that our youths, by quitting too soon 
the schoolboy for the student, have not had 

1 Bib. Repos. ii. p. 569, 570. Pusey, p. 42. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 141 

such thorough exercise and training as is desir- 
able in the gymnastics of education. 55 " We are 
weak throughout, because weak radically. 5 ' 
" The university is too little of a gymnasium in 
Scotland, and too much of one in England.' 51 
The Divinity student of course shares in these 
disadvantages under which the other students 
labour. The Lectures of jhe Professors are 
perhaps more prepared with a view to future 
publication, than for the immediate good of the 
classes that hear them, and exegetical studies 
form no part of the instruction of candidates 
for the Christian ministry. 2 The Hebrew lan- 
guage too, though studied by some, seems to be 
studied with little zeal and profit, 3 and the ener- 
gies of the student to be but little awakened by 
the labours of the Professors. Many Scotch- 
men seem to be dissatisfied with their own 
method of Theological Education, and are even 
directing their eyes to our comparatively young 
institutions for information as to the best mode 
of training men for the ministry. Nor ought 

1 Chalmers on Endowments, pp. 56, 71, 74, 76, 79, 83, 
84,176. 

2 Pusey, p. 80. 

3 Am. Quarterly Register, vol. xiv. pp. 371, 373. 



142 DISCOURSE ON 

we to omit to mention that there exists a Theo- 
logical Seminary at Glasgow on the American 
plan, in which Dr. Ralph Wardlaw was a pro- 
fessor, and which belongs to the Congregational 
Union of Scotland. The Seminary at Geneva 
too, in which D'Aubigne, Gaussen, and Haven- 
ick are professors, does not differ substantially 
from our own. 1 • 

The method of instruction in our seminaries 
is suited to draw forth the powers^ of the stu- 
dents. The text book and catechetical method 
prevail in the English Universities, the method 
of lecturing in the Scotch and German. In 
the Theological Seminaries of America, both 
methods are adopted in nearly equal propor- 
tions. In addition to these methods, the stu- 
dents themselves are constantly kept engaged 
in investigating topics in Systematic Theology, 
and in the preparation of dissertations on them. 
It has been objected to our seminaries that 
the education obtained in them is too profes- 
sional. If this objection means that the stu- 
dents are too much secluded from society and 

1 For an account of the Theol. Schools of G. Britain, 
see Appendix B. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION, 143 

the pursuits of other men, we remark that edu* 
cation cannot be picked up in the streets, nor ob- 
tained in ladies' parlors. Theology can be learn- 
ed elsewhere than in the Lecture Rooms of our 
Medical Professors, and the Moot Courts of 
Students of Law. All professional education 
must be pursued in comparative separation 
from other classes of literary men. And if our 
young theologians spend six years out of nine 
in receiving an education common to them 
and men of other professions, they cannot be 
harmed by being placed for the last three years 
in the schools of the prophets, to be trained 
with a more immediate view to a preparation 
for the duties of the pulpit. 

It is urged that in proportion to the increase 
of Theological Seminaries, increase also the 
numbers of those who are supported by charity. 
It is indeed true that God hath seen fit in his 
infinite wisdom to call the poor of this world to 
the ministry of reconciliation, humbling as it 
may be to the pride of man. If taken away 
from the occupations by which subsistence is 
procured, to devote themselves to the churchy 
the church truly should see that they lack not 



144 DISCOURSE ON 

the meat which perishes. This plainly is the 
will of God, nor should short-sighted man im- 
pugn his will, nor proud man oppose it. In all 
ages there have been means provided for the 
support of poor students, while preparing for 
the ministry. Such provision was made, as we 
have before mentioned, by the Emperor Con- 
stantine when Christianity ascended the throne 
of the Caesars. And, since the Reformation, 
in all Protestant countries, bursaries, foundations 
fellowships, and scholarships, have been con- 
nected with all institutions for the education of 
ministers. The General Assembly of Scotland, 
the National Synod of the Huguenot churches 
of France, the earliest Presbyteries and Synods 
in this country, have passed numerous acts for 
the gratuitous support of poor students of the- 
ology. Luther himself was assisted by a benev- 
olent lady in obtaining his education. Let not 
those whom God has blessed with a patrimony 
which could sustain them while procuring their 
education, frown on the son of the poor man who 
takes, perhaps with mortification and reluctance, 
that assistance which the generous in the 
church are offering to sustain him while yet a 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 145 

learner in the school of Christ. This system 
we deem necessary. As it began with the ear- 
liest ages of the church, it will continue till the 
Millennial glory. 1 

One more objection, and we have done. It 
is founded on the alleged tendency in these 
institutions to corruption, and on the fearful 
havoc they will make in the church, if heresy 
creep into them, and is distilled through them 
upon society. This objection is doubtless not 
without weight in the minds of numbers, and 
ought to be carefully considered by all. Every 
thing in this world, we have already said, is lia- 
ble to corruption, and to be made by man the 
instrument of death. The sacred pulpit itself 
is not excepted, Shall we therefore prostrate it 
in the dust 1 We must rather guard it from 
corruption, hedge it about with those influences 
suited to preserve it, and still use it as an 
instrument of good to man. Seminaries or no 
seminaries in the Church, there must needs be 
offences, and heresies will exist. A few of 
those heresiarchs who have perverted the truth 

1 For some account of the provision made by the church 
in past ages for the gratuitous education of young men for 
the ministry, see Appendix C. 
13 



146 DISCOURSE ON 

were teachers in such institutions. But far the 
larger share have been men differently situated, 
who published abroad their false doctrines, 
which found adherents, and spread through 
society. In most instances, they have been 
published from the pulpit, or circulated in infec- 
tious writings through the community. Often 
our schools have raised their voice against them, 
and brought them to an end, But, as in the 
providence of God this may take place, as this 
dreaded evil has, in the history of the past, 
already been experienced, such institutions 
should be subjected to the close and immediate 
inspection of the Church, and should be the 
creatures, as our own has been, of those judi- 
catories which watch over the purity of the 
house of God. The officers should be wisely 
selected, and hold their places only while the 
body which creates them believes them fulfill- 
ing their duty. They should be men of expe- 
rience, educated in the heart of the Church, 
pastors who know the travails and joys of the 
faithful minister of God, by having endured or 
felt the same. By this close responsibility, and 
by keeping them in dependence on our ecclesi- 
astical bodies, these institutions may be safe, as 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 147 

they certainly are efficient instruments for the 
education of men for the holy ministry. 

After all, as they are the creatures of our 
church courts, their standard of education must 
on the whole be such as they will sanction. 
And the tendency in this country, and especially 
in this part of it, is to lower rather than raise 
the standard of ministerial attainment. The 
seminaries have been struggling against the 
church courts to raise the standard to a higher 
level. It is expected that those who enter the 
Theological Seminaries will first obtain a col- 
lege education. One in every sixteen of those 
graduated at the oldest seminary in this coun- 
try, as appears from the catalogue, enters with- 
out a college education — of our own students, 
one in five. It is expected, too, that the students 
shall remain three years in the institution. 
They too frequently receive license long before 
the course of study is completed, and while as 
yet some of the most important branches remain 
untouched. 1 Wherever the church is straitened 

2 The Presbyteries have resisted the attempt which has 
been made to alter the term of study required by the book of 
Discipline, from two to three years. 



148 DISCOURSE ON 

in respect to the number of her licentiates, she 
will be tempted to let down her requisitions, 
and degrade the scholarship of her clergy. 
This was formerly the case in Scotland. 1 It is 
now eminently the case here and wherever else 
there is a dearth of ministers of the gospeL 
The Scotch Church, before her recent separa- 
tion, was overstocked with students of theology. 
She needed, to supply all the demands made for 
ministers, to have but two hundred students of 
Divinity in the course of study, while she actu- 
ally had seven hundred. 2 In our denomination 
in the United States we have five hundred 
churches more than we have ministers, and 
many of these congregations must be entirely 
vacant. The same is true in a greater or less 
degree of all other denominations. In this 
Synod, the want of liberality in a portion of our 
churches, and the low views entertained by 
some of what constitutes a proper ministerial 
education, and the impatience of our young 
men, has a great tendency to hurry them into 
the ministry. The same is doubtless true in 

1 Chalmers on Endowments, c, ii. 2.. 

2 Chalmers, c. ii. 4. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 149 

many other parts of our country. The remedy 
is mainly to be applied in our Presbyteries, who 
have the power over this matter, and are the 
direct and real guardians at once of the purity 
and the education of the ministry. With the 
deepest interest, and with a lively sense of their 
great responsibilities to Christ and the church, 
should they consider this whole subject of the 
proper training of the ministry of reconciliation, 
and see that it is at once thorough and judicious, 
adapted to produce, so far as human instrumental- 
ity may go, an able, learned, self-denying, and pi- 
ous ministry. We have thought it a decided 
gain to the church if we could detain a young 
man in the seminary for three years, who, had 
he studied privately, would have been licensed 
in two. Let then the Presbyteries give that at- 
tention to this subject which its importance de- 
serves. As a general rule, a student needs the 
learning and mental discipline of a college 
course, before he is at all fitted to pursue suc- 
cessfully the studies of a Theological school. 
If our Presbyteries insist not on this, they wrong 
themselves, the youth who aspire to the minis- 
try, the country, and the church. We have need 
to think and feel more correctly on these points, 
13* 



150 DISCOURSE ON 

and to remember that, as we have always had a 
ministry more thoroughly educated, at least in 
written learning, than the men of other profes- 
sions, so we should see to it that we retain the 
influence and distinction we have thus acquired. 
The churches owe it to themselves and to Christ 
that they support their ministers more amply, 
and give them that time to study which many 
now are obliged to spend in secular pursuits, that 
they may support their families. An apostle, 
when the church was not yet gathered, but was 
in the process of formation, might support him- 
self by making tents ; but it is a shame for church- 
es a quarter, a half, a full century old, to compel 
their pastors to turn their attention away from 
the preaching of the word, to hold the plough 
or teach the rudiments of secular knowledge for 
bread. And the ministers, instead of withdraw- 
ing their influence and looking with coldness 
on our effort to raise an able ministry, should 
gather around us, correct us wherein we are 
wronor, assist us wherein we are right, dismiss 
all discordant counsels, and let us present an 
united front in advancing the cause of ministe- 
rial education, and the true interests of Christ's 
kingdom on the earth. 



THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. 151 

In conclusion we add, that it behooves those 
who occupy the post of teachers in our institutions 
of sacred learning, seriously to inquire whether 
our system of seminary instruction and discipline 
is all that it ought to be, or is capable of being 
made. Is it as spiritual ? as much illuminated 
and vivified by our own abiding and living faith 
in him who is the Light of the world, and the 
Revealer of God ? Is it as complete, extending 
over all those departments of theological know- 
ledge with which an enlightened divine should 
be acquainted, and in each department illustra- 
ting all those topics which revealed religion 
presents to our view ? Is it as thorough, pene- 
trating into those deep thoughts and investiga- 
tions into which the words of the Holy Ghost 
lead forth the minds of men 1 Is it as clear, 
leaving on the minds of our students distinct and 
well denned views of the doctrines of revela- 
tion, separating the chaff from the wheat, and 
tracing down through all ages that succession 
of doctrine which has waged a constant war- 
fare with error, has been the glory and vigour 
of piety, and is to fill the church with that en- 
ergy with which it shall yet contend unto victo- 
ry with the empire of darkness ? Is it as inspir- 



152 DISCOURSE, ETC. 

king to those committed for a season to our 
care, commanding with authority their powers 
of attention and thought, stirring up their 
minds into constant, untiring activity, and form- 
ing them to manly effort ? Is it based on those 
great principles, those leading truths, which, 
once fastened in the mind, become the key to 
unlock a thousand mysteries, and to settle satis- 
factorily a thousand questions which may arise 
in their future lives ? Is it as practical, suited to 
make then | prompt and skilful in the discharge 
of the various and important duties of the minis- 
try, in the study, in the pulpit, at the sick and 
dying bed, in pastoral labour, benevolent effort, 
and the cure of souls ? We have an office of 
dread responsibility. We need to be diligent and 
wise, and to sit ourselves continually as disciples 
at the Saviour's feet. 



APPENDIX A . 

Samuel Palmer, the advocate of the dissenting 
academies, gives us the following account of his 
tutor's* plan of education, and of the employments 
of the students : — 

" It was our custom to have lectures appointed to 
certain times, and we began the morning with 
logic. We read Hereboord, which is the same as 
is generally read at Cambridge. The next supe- 
rior class read metaphysics, of which Fromenius's 
Synopsis was our manual, and by directions of our 
tutor, we were assisted in our chambers by Baro- 
nius, Suarez, and Colbert. Ethics was our next 
study, and our system Hereboord, in reading which 
our tutor recommended to our meditation Dr. Henry 
More, Marcus Antoninus Epictetus, with the com- 
ments of Arrian and Simplicius, and the morals of 
Solomon ; and under this head, the moral works of the 
great PufFendorf. The highest class was engaged in 
natural philosophy, of which Le Clerc was our sys- 
tem, whom we compared with the ancients and with 
other moderns, as Aristotle, Des Cartes, Colbert, 
Staire, &c. We disputed, every other day, in Latin, 
upon the several philosophical controversies ; and 
as these lectures were read off, some time was set 

* James Owen. 



154 APPENDIX A. 

apart to introduce rhetoric, in which that short 
piece of John Gerard Vossius was used in the 
school, but in our chambers we were assisted by his 
larger volume, Aristotle, and Tully de Oratore. 
These exercises were all performed every morning, 
except that, on Mondays, we added, as a divine lec- 
ture, some of Buchanan's Psalms, the finest of the 
kind, both for purity of language, and exact sense 
of the original; and on Saturdays all the superior 
classes declaimed by turns, four and four, on some 
noble and useful subject, such as De Pace; Logi- 
ca ne magis inserviat cseteris disciplinis an Rheto- 
rica, de connubio virtutis cum doctrina, &c., and I 
can say that these orations were, for the most part 
of uncommon eloquence, purity of style, and manly 
and judicious composure. 

" After dinner, our work began by reading some 
one of the Greek or Latin historians, orators, or 
poets, of which, first, I remember Sallust, Q,uintus 
Curtius, Justin, and Paterculus;" of the second, De- 
mosthenes, Tully, and Isocrates's Select Orations; 
and of the last, Homer, Virgil, Juvenal, Persius, and 
Horace. This reading was the finest and most de- 
lightful to young gentlemen of all others, because it 
was not in the pedantic method of common schools ; 
but the delicacy of our tutor's criticisms, his exact de- 
scription of persons, terms, and places, illustrated by 
referring to Rosin and other antiquarians, and his 
j ust application of the morals, made such a lasting 



APPENDIX A. 155 

impression, as rendered all our other studies more 
facile. In geography, we read Dionysii Periegesis 
compared with Clu verms, which at this lecture 
always lay upon the table. 

"Mondays and Fridays, we read divinity, of 
which the first lecture was always in the Greek 
Testament, and it was our custom to go through it 
once a year. We seldom read less than six or seven 
chapters, and this was done with the greatest accu 
racy. We were obliged to give the most curious 
etymons, and were assisted with the Synopsis 
Criticomm, Martinius, Favorinus, and Hesy- 
chius's Lexicons, and it was expected that the 
sacred geography and chronology should be par- 
ticularly observed and answered too, at demand, of 
which I never knew my tutor sparing. The other 
divinity lecture was on Synopsis Purioris Theolo • 
gise, as very accurate and short ; we were advised 
to read by ourselves the more large pieces of Tur- 
retine, Theses Salmurienses, Baxter's Methodus 
Theologise, and Archbishop Usher's, and, on par- 
ticular controversies, many excellent authors, as on 
original sin, Placseus, and Barlow de Natura Mali ; 
on grace and free will, Rutherford, Strangius, and 
Amyraldus ; on the Popish controversy, Amesius, 
Bellarminus Enervatus, and the modern disputes 
during the reign of King James ; on Episcopacy 
Altare Damacenum, Bishop Hail, and Mr. Baxter ; 



156 APPENDIX A. 

Bishop Stillingfleet's lrenicum, Drs. Owen and 
Rutherford ; and for practical divinity, Baxter, 
Tillotson, Charnock ; and, in a word, the best books 
of the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Independent 
divines, were in their order recommended, and con- 
stantly -used by those of us who were able to pro- 
cure them ; and all, or most of them, I can affirm 
were the study of all the pupils. 

" I have not said any thing of the affairs of our 
house and our social conversation, which in most 
was unexceptionable. My tutor began the morn- 
ing with public prayer, in the school, which he 
performed with great devotion, but not with equal 
elegance and beauty in English 5 but in Latin, in 
which he often prayed, no man could exceed him 
for exact thought, curious style, and devout pathos. 

" At divinity lectures, the eldest pupils prayed ; 
in these I often joined with peculiar delight, and 
went away with a raised mind. Men of lesser 
genius were allowed forms of their own com- 
posure, or others, as they thought proper. Prayer 
in the family was so esteemed that I do not know 
that it was once omitted." 

One of the fullest accounts of the methods of 
education at that period, is given by Thomas 
Seeker, a student in the academy of Mr. Jones, at 
Gloucester. As this was sent to Dr. Watts by Mr. 
Seeker, who, then educated for the ministry among 



APPENDIX A* 157 

tfee Dissenters, became afterwards Archbishop of 
Canterbury, his statement will be read with the 
liveliest interest 

i; Gloucester, Nov, 18, 171 1. 

" Rev. Sir :— Before I give you an account of 
the state of our academy and those other things you 
desired me, please to accept of my hearty thanks 
for that service you have done me, both in advis- 
ing me to prosecute my studies in such an extra- 
ordinary place of education, and in procuring me 
admittance into it I wish my improvements may 
be answerable to the advantages I enjoy; but 
however that may happen, your kindness has fixed 
me in a place where I may be very happy, and 
spend my time to good purpose j and where, if I do 
not, the fault will be all my own, 

" Our logic, which we have read over once, is so 
contrived as to comprehend all Hereboord, and the 
greater part of Mr. Locke's Essay, and the Art of 
Thinking- What Mr. Jones dictated to us was but 
short, containing a clear and brief account of the 
matter, references to the places where it was more 
fully treated of, and remarks en, or explications of, 
the authors cited, when need required. At our 
aext lecture, we gave an account both of what the 
author quoted and our tutor said, who commonly 
gave us a larger explication of it, and so proceeded 
Xq the next thing in order. He took care, as far as 
14 



158 APPE'NDIX A. 

possible, that we understood the sense as well as 
remembered the words of what we had read, and 
that we should not suffer ourselves to be cheated 
with obscure terms which had no meaning. Though 
he be no great admirer of the old logic, yet he has 
taken a great deal of pains both in explaining and 
correcting Hereboord, and has, for the most part, 
made him intelligible, or shown that he is not so. 

" The two Mr. Jones, Mr. Francis, Mr. Wat- 
kins, Mr. Sheldon, and two more gentlemen, are to 
begin Jewish antiquities in a short time. I was- 
designed for one of their number, but rather chose 
to read logic once more ; both because I was utterly 
unacquainted with it when I came to this place, and 
because the others, having all, except Mr. Francis, 
been at other academies, will be obliged to make 
more haste than those in a low class, and conse- 
quently cannot have so good or large accounts of 
any thing, nor so much time to study every head. 
We shall have gone through our course in about 
four years' time, which, I believe, no body that 
knows Mr. Jones will think too long. 

"I began to learn Hebrew soon as I came hither, 
and find myself able now to construe, and give some 
grammatical account of, about twenty verses in the 
easier parts of the Bible, after less than an hour's 
preparation. We read ? every day, two verses 
apiece in the Hebrew Bible, which we turn into 
Greek (no one knowing which his verses shall be. 



APPENDIX A. 159 

though at first it was otherwise), and this, with 
logic, is our morning's work. 

" Mr. Jones also began, about three months ago, 
some critical lectures, in order to the exposition you 
advised him to. The principal thing contained in 
them are about the antiquity of the Hebrew lan- 
guage, letters, vowels, the incorruption of the 
Scriptures, ancient divisions of the Bible, an ac- 
count of the Talmud, Masora, and Cabala. We 
are at present upon the Septuagint, and shall pro- 
ceed, after that, to Targumim, and other versions, 
&c. Every part is managed with abundance of 
perspicuity, and seldom any material thing is omit« 
ted that others have said on the point, though very 
frequently we have useful additions of things which 
are not to be found in them. We have scarce been 
upon any thing yet, but Mr. Jones has had those 
writers which are most valued on that head, to which 
he always refers us. This is what we first set about 
in the afternoon, which being finished, we read a 
chapter in the Greek Testament, and after that, 
mathematics. We have gone through all that is 
taught of algebra and proportion, with the first six 
books of Euclid, which is all Mr. Jones designs for 
the gentlemen I mentioned above, but he intends to 
read something more to the class that comes after 
them. 

"This is our daily employment, which, in the 
morning, takes up about two hours, and something 



160 APPENDIX A, 

more in the afternoon. Only on Wednesdays, in 
the morning, we read Dionysius's Periegesis, on 
which we have notes, mostly geographical, but 
with some criticisms intermixed 5 and in the after- 
noon we have no lecture at all. So, on Saturday, 
in the afternoon, we have only a thesis, which none 
but they who have done with logic have any con- 
cern in. We are also just beginning to read 
Isocrates and Terence, each twice a week. On the 
latter, our tutor will give us some notes, which he 
received in a college, from Perizonius. 

" We are obliged to rise at five of the clock, every 
morning ; and to speak Latin always, except when 
below stairs amongst the family. The people 
where we live are very civil, and the greatest incon- 
venience we suffer is, that we fill the house rather too 
much, being sixteen in number, besides Mr. Jones. 
But I suppose the increase of his academy will 
oblige him to remove next spring. We pass our 
time very agreeably, betwixt study and conversa- 
tion with our tutor, who is always ready to discourse 
freely of any thing that is useful ; and allows us, 
either then, or at lecture, all imaginable liberty of 
making objections against his opinion, and prosecu- 
ting them as far as we can. In this, and everything 
else, he shows himself so much a gentleman, and 
manifests so great an affection and tenderness for 
his pupils, as cannot but command respect and 
love. I almost forgot to mention our tutor's library* 



APPENDIX A. 161 

which is composed, for the most part, of foreign 
books, which seem to be very well chosen, and are 
every day of great advantage to us. 

" Thus I have endeavoured, sir, to give you an 
account of all I thought material or observable 
amongst us. As for my own part, I apply myself 
with what diligence I can to every thing which is 
the subject of our lectures, without preferring one 
subject before another; because I see nothing we 
are engaged in, but what is either necessary, or 
extremely useful, for one who would thoroughly 
understand those things which most concern him, or 
be able to explain them well to others. I hope I 
have not spent my time, since I came to this place, 
without some small improvement both in human 
knowledge and that which is far better; and I 
earnestly desire the benefit of your prayers, that 
Ood would be pleased to fit me better for his ser- 
vice, both in this world and the next. This, if you 
please to afford me, and your advice with relation 
to study, or whatever else you think convenient, 
must needs be extremely useful, as well as agreea- 
ble, and shall be thankfully received by your most 
obliged, humble servant, " T. Secker."* 

From the pen of Dr. Doddridge, we receive a full 



* Bogue and Bennett's History of the Dissenters, vol. i 
p. 345-350. 

14* 



162 APPENDIX A, 

statement of John Jennings's system of education, 
from which the following is an extract : 

" Our course was the employment of four years, 
and every half year we entered upon a new set of 
studies, or at least changed the time and order of 
our lectures. 

" The first half year we read geometry or algebra 
thrice a week, Hebrew twice, geography once? 
French once, Latin prose authors once, classical 
exercises once. The second half year we ended 
geometry and algebra, which we read twice a week. 
We read logic twice, civil history once, French 
twice, Hebrew once, Latin poets once, exercises- 
once, oratory once, exercises of reading and de- 
livery once. For logic we just skimmed over 
Burgersdicius, and then entered on a system com- 
posed by Mr. Jennings; a great deal of it was 
taken from Mr. Locke, and we had large refer- 
ences to him and other celebrated authors, almost 
under every head, This was the method Mr. 
Jennings used in almost all the lectures he drew 
up himself. Hejnade the best writers his commen- 
tators. 

" The third half year, we read mechanics, hydro- 
statics, and physics twice, Greek poets once, history 
of England once, anatomy once, astronomy, globes,, 
and chronology once, miscellanies once, and had one 
logical disputation in a week. On some of these: 



APPENDIX A. 163 

branches, we had a system drawn up by the tutor, 
in others we made use of the most celebrated publi- 
cations. The fourth half year we read pneuma- 
tology twice a week, the remainder of physics and 
miscellanies once. Jewish antiquities twice. Our 
pneumatology was drawn up by Mr. Jennings. 
This with our divinity, which was a continuation of 
it, was by far the most valuable part of our course. 
Mr. Jennings had bestowed a vast deal of thought 
upon them, and his discourses from them in the 
lecture-room were admirable. For Jewish antiqui- 
ties, we read an abridgment of Mr. Jones's notes 
on Godwin, with some very curious and important 
additions. 

" The fifth half year we read ethics twice a week, 
critics once, and had one pneumatological disputa- 
tion. Our ethics were a part of pneumatology. 
Our critical lectures were an abridgment of Mr. 
Jones's. Our pneumatological and theological dis- 
putations were of very considerable service to us. 
The sixth half year we read divinity thrice a week, 
Christian antiquities once, miscellanies once, and 
had one homily of a Thursday night. For Chris- 
tian antiquities, we read i Sir Peter King's Consti- 
tution of the Primitive Church,' with c The Original 
Draught' in answer to it. We consulted 'Bing- 
ham's Origines Ecclesiasticse' for illustration, and 
had recourse sometimes to ' Suiceri Thesaurus.' 

" The seventh half year, we read divinity thrice 



164 APPENDIX A. 

a week, ecclesiastical history once, had one ser- 
mon, and one theological dissertation. The last 
half year we read divinity once a week, history of 
controversies once, miscellanies once, and had one 
theological disputation. For the history of contro- 
versies, we read ' Spanheim's Elenchus.' The 
miscellaneous, for this half year, contained a brief 
historical account of the ancient philosophy. On 
the art of preaching and pastoral care, Mr. Jen- 
nings gave us very excellent advice, and some 
valuable hints on the head of nonconformity. We 
preached this last half year, either at home or 
abroad, as occasion required, and towards the be- 
ginning of it were examined by a committee of 
neighbouring ministers, to whom that office was 
assigned at a preceding general meeting. 

" Mr. Jennings never admitted any into his acade- 
my till he had examined them as to their improve- 
ment in school learning, and capacity for entering 
on the course of studies which he proposed. He 
likewise insisted on satisfaction as to their moral 
character, and the marks of a serious disposition. 

" The first two years of our course, we read the 
Scriptures in the family, from Hebrew, Greek, and 
French, into English. Every evening an account 
was taken of our private studies. We were obliged 
to talk Latin within some certain bounds of time 
and place. Every Lord's-day evening, Mr. Jen- 
nings used to send for some of us into the lecture- 



APPENDIX A. 165 

room, and discourse with each apart about inward 
religion. Mr. Jennings allowed us the free use of 
his library, which was divided into two parts. The 
first was common to all, the second was for the use 
of the seniors only, consisting principally of books 
of philosophy and polemical divinity, with which 
the juniors would have been confounded rather 
than edified. At our first entrance on each, we had 
a lecture, in which Mr. Jennings gave us the gene- 
ral character of each book, and some hints as to 
the time and manner of perusing it. We had a 
fortnight vacation at Christmas, and six weeks at 
Whitsuntide." 

Of the method of education which Dr. Doddridge 
pursued in his own academy, his biographer, Mr. 
Orton, has given a full statement in the sixth chap- 
ter of the memoirs of his life. The following are 
the outlines expressed in his own words : 

" The orders of the seminary were such as suited 
a society of students ; in a due medium between 
the rigour of school discipline and an unlimited in- 
dulgence. It was an established law, that every 
student should rise at six o'clock in the summer, 
and seven in the winter. As soon as they were 
assembled, a prayer was offered up, and they 
retired to their closets, till the time of family wor- 
ship. The doctor began that service with a short 
prayer for the divine presence and blessing ; some 
of the students read a chapter of the Old Testa- 



166 APPENDIX A. 

ment, from Hebrew into English, whieh he ex- 
pounded critically, and drew practical inferences 
from it ; a psalm was then sung, and he prayed. 
In the evening, the worship was conducted in the 
same method, only a chapter in the New Testa- 
ment was read by the students, from Greek into 
English, which he expounded; and the senior 
students, in rotation, prayed. He recommended it 
to them to take hints of his illustrations and re- 
marks, as what would be useful to them in future 
life. He advised them to get the Old Testament 
and Wetstein's Greek Testament, interleaved, in 
quarto, in which to write the most considerable re- 
marks for the illustration of the Scriptures, which 
occurred in his expositions, and in their own read- 
ing, conversation, and reflection. 

" Soon after breakfast, he took the several classes 
and lectured to each about an hour. His lectures 
were generally confined to the morning. 

" One of the first things he expected from his 
pupils was to learn Rich's short-hand, which he 
wrote himself, and in which his lectures were writ- 
ten, that they might transcribe them, make ex- 
tracts from the books they read and consulted, 
with ease and speed, and save themselves many 
hours in their future compositions. Care was 
taken, in the first year of their course, that they 
should retain and improve that knowledge of 
Greek and Latin which they had acquired at 



APPENDIX ft 16? 

school, and gain such knowledge of Hebrew, if 
they had not learned it before, that they might be 
able to read the Old Testament in its original lan- 
guage. To this end, besides the course of lectures 
in a morning, classical lectures were read every 
evening, generally by his assistant, but sometimes 
by himself. Systems of logic, rhetoric, geography, 
and metaphysics, were read during the first year of 
their course, and they were referred to particular 
passages in other authors upon these subjects,, 
which illustrated the points on which the lectures 
had turned. To these were added lectures on the 
principles of geometry and algebra. After these 
studies were finished, they were introduced to the 
knowledge of trigonometry, conic sections, and celes- 
tial mechanics, consisting of a collection of impor- 
tant propositions, taken chiefly from Sir Isaac 
Newton, and demonstrated independently of the 
rest. A system of natural and experimental phi- 
losophy, comprehending mechanics, statics, hy- 
drostatics, optics, pneumatics, and astronomy, was 
read to them, with references to the best authors on 
these subjects. This system was illustrated by a 
neat and pretty large philosophical apparatus. 
Some other articles were touched, especially his- 
tory, natural and civil, as the students proceeded in 
their course. A distinct view of the anatomy of the 
human body was given. A large system of Jewish 
antiquities, which their tutor had drawn up, was read 



168 appendix a 5 

to them in the latter years of their course. In this 
branch of science, likewise, they were referred to 
the best writers on the subject. ' Lampe's Epitome 
of Ecclesiastical History 7 was the groundwork of 
a series of lectures upon that subject; as was 
J Buddei Compendium Historian Philosophise ' of 
lectures on the doctrines of the ancient philosphers 
in their various sects* 

"But the chief object of their attention and 
study, during three years of their course, was his 
system of divinity, in the largest sense of the word ; 
including what is most material in pneumatology 
and ethics. In this compendium were contained, 
in as few words as perspicuity would admit, the 
most material things which had occurred to the 
author's observation, relating to the nature and 
properties of the human mind, the proof of the ex- 
istence and attributes of God, the nature of moral 
virtue, its various branches, means, and sanctions j 
under which head, the natural evidence of the im- 
mortality of the soul was largely examined. To 
this was added some survey of the state of virtue in 
the world, from whence the transition was easy to 
the need of a revelation, &c. The evidences were 
produced in favour of that revelation which the 
Scriptures contained. The genuineness, credi- 
bility, and inspiration of these sacred books were 
then cleared up at large, and vindicated from the 
objections of infidels. When this foundation was 



laid, the chief doctrines of Scripture were drawn out 
into a large detail i those relating to the Fathef 5 
Son, and Spirit, to the original and fallen state of 
man, to the scheme of our redemption by Christ} 
and the offices of the Spirit as the great agent in 
the Redeemer's kingdom. The nature of the coveM 
nant of grace was particularly stated, and the seve^ 
ral precepts and institutions of the gospel, with the 
views which it gives us of the concluding scenes of 
our world, and of the eternal state beyond it. All 
was illustrated by a very large collection of refer- 
ences ; containing, perhaps, one lecture with an^ 
other, the substance of forty or fifty octavo pages^ 
in which the sentiments and reasonings of the most 
considerable authors, on all these heads, might be 
seen in their own words. It was the business of 
the students to read and contract these references 
in the intervals between the lectures, of which only 
three were given in a week, and sometimes but 
two. This system his pupils transcribed. 

"Besides the expositions in the family, critical 
lectures on the New Testament were weekly de^ 
livered, which the students were permitted and 
encouraged to transcribe, to lead them to a better 
knowledge of the divine oracles. Polite literature 
he by no means neglected. In the last year of the 
©ourse, a set of lectures on preaching and the pas £ 
toral care was given ; these have lately been pub* 
lished. While the students were pursuing thes© 

m 



170 APPENDIX A. 

important studies, some lectures were given them 
on civil law, the hieroglyphics and mythology of 
the ancients, the English history, particularly the 
history of nonconformity, and the principles on 
which a separation from the church of England is 
founded. 

" One day in every week was set apart for public 
exercises. At these times, the translations and 
orations of the junior students were read and 
examined. Those who entered on the study of 
pneumatology and ethics, produced, in their turns, 
a thesis on the several subjects assigned them, 
which were mutually opposed and defended. 
Those who had finished ethics, delivered homilies 
on the natural and moral perfections of God, and 
the nature of moral virtue \ while the senior stu- 
dents brought analyses of Scripture, the schemes of 
sermons, and afterwards the sermons themselves 5 
which they submitted to the examination and cor- 
rection of their tutor. He sometimes gave his 
pupils lectures on the books in the library, going 
over the several shelves in order ; informing them 
of the character of each book, and its author, if 
known ; at what period of their course, and with 
what special views particular books should be 
read, and which of them it was desirable they 
should be most familiarly acquainted and furnished 
with, when they settled in the world. 

" The doctor's manner of lecturing was well 



APPENDIX A. 171 

adapted to engage the attention and love of his 
pupils, and to promote their diligent study of the 
lectures. When the class was assembled, he ex- 
amined them in the last lecture, whether they 
understood his reasoning; what the authors re- 
ferred to said upon the subject; whether he had 
given them a just view of their sentiments, ar- 
guments, and objections, or omitted any that 
were important. He expected from them an 
account of the reasoning, demonstrations, scrip- 
tures, or facts, contained in the lectures and refer- 
ences. He frequently inculcated on his students 
the necessity of preaching Christ, if they desired to 
save souls; of considering their own concern in 
them, and endeavouring to feel their energy on 
their own spirits, that they might appear to their 
hearers as giving vent to the feeling of their heart 
on its darling subjects." 

The method of instruction adopted by Dr. David 
Jennings may be learned by the following brief 
quotation from the account of his life : 

" The business of the lecture-room commenced 
every morning at ten o'clock, with a short prayer, 
when a chapter was read from the Greek Testa- 
ment into English by the students, each construing 
a verse. The doctor then read it, adding such ex- 
pository notes and observations as suggested them- 
selves at the time. The junior students, after this, 
withdrew into another room, to lecture on the clas- 



172 APPENDIX A. 

sics, mathematics, or logic, as they respectively 
offered in the arrangement of the course under 
Dr. Savage. The elder classes attended on Dr. 
Jennings, who went with them through a course of 
lectures on Jewish antiquities and divinity. The 
former, at once a week, lasted four years ; the 
latter, being read twice a week, were completed in 
three. The text book, in the first, was Godwin's 
c Moses and Aaron; 5 in the other, 'Marckii Me- 
dulla Theologian ;' which, though a short system, 
hinted, the doctor thought, almost at every topic 
which came into theological discussion. His lec- 
tures on Godwin formed a valuable independent 
work, after that writer's method ; but those on 
Marck consisted of notes to his Medulla, often very 
brief, but sometimes running into dissertations. 
Before the academical term, which was for five 
years, was finished, the doctor gave a series of lec- 
tures on preaching ; and took an opportunity to in- 
termix some on architecture, heraldry, and metals. 
On Wednesday morning, he gave an hour to the 
junior students in reading, and explaining his own 
treatise on the globes and orrery ; and in receiving 
from them and correcting a translation of c Lampe's 
Compendium of Ecclesiastical History ! 5 " — Bogue 
and Bennett's History of the Dissenters, vol. ii. pp, 
231-239. 



APPENDIX B. 173 



APPENDIX B. 

The following view of the provisions made for 
the education of the clergy of the Presbyterian 
churches of Scotland and Ireland and of the dissent- 
ing churches of Great Britain, has been compiled 
from the Scottish Ecclesiastical and National Reg- 
ister for 1842. 

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 
IN IRELAND. 

THEOLOGICAL PROFESSORS. 

Divinity, Rev. Samuel Hanna, D. D., and Rev. 
John Edgar, D. D. 

Biblical Criticism, Rev. Robert Wilson, and 
Rev. Sam. Davidson, LL. D. 

Bed Hist. Church GovH and Pastoral Theology, 
Rev. William D. Killen. 

Moral Philosophy, Rev. Robert Wilson. 

THE UNITED ASSOCIATE SYNOD (SECESSION). 
THEOLOGICAL PROFESSORS. 

Past Theol. and Ecct Hist, Rev. Alexander 
Duncan, Mid-Calder. 

15* 



174 APPENDIX B. 

Systematic Theology^ Rev. Rob't Balmer, D. D., 
Berwick. 

Exegetical Theology : Rev. J. Brown, D. D., 
Edinburg. 

Biblical Literature^ Rev. J. Mitchell, D. D., 
Glasgow. 

The number of students in 1842, one hundred and 
eleven. The junior classes assemble in Glasgow 
under two of the Professors, the senior classes at 
Edinburg under the other two. Length of the 
annual session eight weeks, term of study five 
years. In the intervals between the sessions, the 
students are under the care of their Presbyteries ; 
must have attended three sessions at the University 
before entering at the Divinity Hall, and must 
attend one more while connected with it. 

Professors in the Theological Seminary of the Se- 
cession Church from its commencement 

Rev. Alex. Wilson, of Perth, appointed A. D. 
1736; died A. D. 1741. 

Rev. Alex. Moncrief, Abernethy, appointed A. D. 
1742; died 1761. 

General Associate or Antiburgher Synod. 

Rev. Alex. Moncrief, Abernethy, appointed A. D. 
1742 ; died 1761. 

Rev. Wm. Moncrief, of Alloa, appointed A. D* 
1762; died 1786. 



APPENDIX B. 175 

Rev. Arch. Bruce, of Whitburn, appointed A. D. 
1786 ; resigned 1806. 

Rev. George Paxton, D.D., Edinburg, appointed 
A. D., 1807 ; resigned 1820. 

Associate or Burgher Synod. 

Rev. Ebenezer Erskine, appointed A. D. 1747 ; 
resigned 1749. 

Rev. James Fisher, of Glasgow, appointed A. D. 
1749 ; resigned 1764. 

Rev. Jn. Swanston, of Kinross, appointed A. D. 
1764 ; died 1767. 

Rev. J. Brown, of Haddington, appointed A. D. 
1768 ; died 1787. 

Rev. G. Lawson, D. D., Selkirk, appointed A. D. 
1787 j died 1820. 

Rev. Jn. Dick, D. D., Glasgow, appointed A. D. 
1820; died 1833. 



Associate Synod of Original Seceders. 

Prof, of 'Divinity ', Rev. Thomas McCrie, of Edin- 
burg. 

Prof of Hebrew and Biblical Criticism, Rev. 
B. Laing, Colmonell. 

Session of the Divinity Hall commences on the 
16th of August, and continues two months. Num- 
ber of students in 1842, eight. 



176 APPENDIX B. 

Relief Synod. 

Prof, of Exegetic Theology, Rev. W. Lindsay. 
Glasgow. 

Prof, of Systematic Theology, Rev. N. Mc- 
Michael, Dunfermline. 

Students must attend four sessions in addition 
to their University course. Number of students in 
1841 was forty-four. During the recess the studies 
of the students are under the general direction of 
the several Presbyteries. Theological Seminary 
meets at Glasgow on the third Thursday of 
August. 

Reformed Presbyterian Church, or Covenanters. 

Six Presbyteries in Scotland ; three in Ireland. 

Prof, of Divinity, A. Symington, D. D., Paisley. 

The session of the Divinity Hall commences at 
Paisley on the second Tuesday of August, and 
continues six weeks. Number of students from ten 
to twenty -four. 

CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF SCOTLAND. 

Theological Academy in Glasgow. 

Tutors, Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, D. D.; Rev. 
Jas. Morrel McKenzie. 

Course of study four years. Session from 1st of 
November to 1st of July. Number of students 
thirty. 



APPENDIX B. 177 

SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Theological Institution. 

Prof, of Divinity, Right Rev. C. H. Terrot, 
D. D. 

Prof of Church History, Right Rev. M. Russell, 
D. D. 

UNIVERSITIES IN SCOTLAND. 

Note. — In the following account of these Universities the names of 
none of the professors are given except those of Divinity in its seve- 
ral departments. 

1. University of St. Andrews. 

Founded in 1410. It formerly consisted of three 
colleges, each independent of the others. St. Sal- 
vator's erected in 1456, St. Leonord's in 1512, and 
St. Mary's, or the New College, in 1553. In the 
reign of James VI. St. Mary's was entirely remod- 
elled by Archbishop Adamson and the celebrated 
George Buchanan, and appropriated solely to 
Divinity. In consequence of the decrease of the 
revenues of St. Salvator's, of which tithes formed 
the principal part, it was united with St. Leonard's 
in 1747. The number of Professors in the " United 
College of St. Salvator and St. Leonard " is fifteen, 
at the head of whom is Sir David Brewster. Num- 
ber of students one hundred and five. There are 
twenty-two foundations for Bursaries in the United 
College, amounting to £900 per annum ; and their 
benefit is extended to seventy-five students. 



178 APPENDIX B. 

College of St. Mary. 

Principal and Primarius Professor of Divinity^ 
Robert Haldane, D. D., appointed 1S20. The 
Crown Patron. 

Systematic Theology, Robert Haldane, D. D., 
1820, Crown. 

Bib. Crit. and Theology, Thomas T. Jackson, 
1836, Crown. 

Ecclesiastical History, George Buist, D. D., 
1823, Crown. 

Oriental Languages, William Tennant, 1825, 
Crown. 

Number of students in 1842, regular, twenty ; oc- 
casional, twenty-one } total, forty-one. Session be- 
gins about the end of November, closes at the be- 
ginning of April — four months. Seven foundations 
for Bursaries of the annual value of £200 \ their 
benefit extended to seventeen students. 

2. University of Glasgow. 

Founded in 1450. Has a Principal and twenty- 
two Professors. Three of these are in the Theo- 
logical department. 

Divinity, Alexander Hill, D. D., 1840. 

Oriental Languages, George Gray, D. D., 1839. 

Ecclesiastical History, James S. Reid, D. D., 
184L 

Number of students in the Gown classes or 



APPENDIX B, 119 

Faculty of Arts, four hundred and sixty-two. In 
the Divinity Hall, seventy-seven, including eighteen 
who gave only a partial attendance. The General 
Assembly has enacted that there must always be 
one session of regular attendance at the Divinity 
Hall. The number of foundations for Bursaries is 
thirty-one, amounting annually to about £1200, and 
their benefits extend to sixty-seven students. 

3. King^s College and University, Aberdeen. 

Consists of two distinct and independent univer- 
sities : King's College, founded in 1494, in Old Ab- 
erdeen, and Marischal College, founded a century 
later in New Aberdeen, about a mile from the 
former. Faculty, a Principal, Sub-Principal, nine 
Professors, and ten Lecturers in the medical de* 
partment. 

Prof, of Divinity, Duncan Mearns, D. D>, 1815. 

Prof, of Oriental Languages, James Bentley ? 
A. M., 1798. 

There are thirty-three foundations for Bursaries, 
extending their benefits to one hundred and fifty- 
one, including students in Medicine and Theology, 
and amounting in value to upwards of £2,000. 

4. University of Edinburgh 

Founded 1582. Under a Principal and thirty- 
three Professors. The Professors in the Theo s 
logical chairs in 1842 were, in 



180 AfPENDIJt B. 

Divinity, T. Chalmers, D, D, LL. D., 1828, 

Oriental Languages, Alexander Brunton, D. D^ 
1813. 

Divinity and Ecclesiastical Historvj David 
Welsh, D. D., 1831. 

Number of Divinity students in 1840-41, was one 
hundred and nineteen, besides forty4wo Irish and 
other students, making in all one hundred and sixty* 
one* The Divinity session begins on the first week 
in November, and ends on the 31st of March. To 
qualify a student to be taken on trials for license 5 
requires attendance four sessions, three of which 
must be regular. Before entering the Divinity 
class the student must produce certificates of regu- 
lar attendance, spread over four years in the classes 
of Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Logic, and Meta^ 
physics, Moral and Natural Philosophy, In the 
Divinity Hall he attends four sessions in the class 
of the Professor ci' Divinity, two in the class of the 
Professor of Hebrew, and two at least in that of the 
Professor of Church History. In the course of his 
attendance at the Hall, he must deliver six dis- 
courses, viz., a Latin exegesis, a critical discourse 
on a portion of the Greek Testament, a critical dis- 
course on a portion of the Hebrew Old Testament, 
a homily, a lecture on some portion of Scripture, 
and a popular sermon. Besides these, the Profes* 
sors prescribe various exercises, the performance of 
which is optional. Foundations for Bursaries thirty- 



APPENDIX $, 181 

four, yielding £1172 5 and their benefit is extended 
to eighty students. 

5. Marischal College and University of Aberdeen* 

Founded in 1593. Number of Professors thirteen, 
of Lecturers six. 
Prof, of Divinity, Alexander Black, D. D,, 183L 
Oriental Languages, George G. M'Lean, M. D., 
1835. 
Church History, Daniel Dewar f D, D,, 1833, 
Number of students in Divinity in 1840-41 5 
ninety-nine, of whom above half were regular. 
Regular students attend from about Christmas to 
the first Friday in April. The irregular, generally 
about two weeks. The rules' of the church require 
not less than three full sessions, and one partial ; of 
two full sessions and three partial ; or one full ses- 
sion and five partial. Every student must attend 
the classes for Hebrew and Church History. The 
discourses required to be delivered are, a lecture, 
a homily, a popular discourse, a Latin exegesis, 
a critical exercise on a passage from the Greek 
Testament, another also on a passage from the 
Hebrew Bible. The Professor of Divinity holds 
two meetings a week for delivering lectures, and 
one for hearing and commenting upon students 5 
discourses; but he lectures at this third meeting 
also, if there are no discourses. On the other days 
of the week the Divinity students, who are so far 
16 



182 APPENDIX B. 

common to both Universities, attend the Professor 
of Divinity in the University of Old Aberdeen. No 
fee is paid in the Divinity class, at either Univer^ 
sity, but that of the Church History class is ,£1, 11, 
6; and the same in the Hebrew classes. The 
number of Divinity students has decreased by more 
than one-third within the last fifteen years ; but the 
proportion of regular students of Divinity has in- 
creased. 

The number of foundations for Bursaries is forty- 
six. The number of Bursaries is one hundred and 
thirty-three, amounting to the annual sum of about 
£1325. 

Dissenters? Academies in England. 

Unlike the Divinity students in Scotland, who 
have to support themselves, except the assistance 
they may receive from Bursaries, during a course, 
first of four years at a University, and afterwards 
four or five years at a Divinity Hall, the English 
Dissenting students have board, lodging, and edu- 
cation, gratuitously provided in their academies or 
colleges, for a term of years, and have also an op- 
portunity in the latter part of their course, of realiz- 
ing something from the stipend allowed them from 
stations or congregations to which they are sent as 
supplies. The Theological Academies embrace in 
their course of tuition, the study of the Latin or 
Greek Classics, Logic, Natural and Moral Philoso- 



APPENDIX B. 183 

phy, and Mathematics, as well as the branches of 
Biblical Literature and Divinity, which are their 
more legitimate province. The attainments re- 
quired of students on entering the academies, are 
various at different institutions; some requiring 
considerable progress to have been made in the 
ancient languages and elementary science, so as to 
leave more time for strictly Theological and Bibli- 
cal studies; while others admit students of ap- 
proved piety, without any other qualifications than 
a plain English education. The following are the 
academies of the Dissenters: 

1. Homerton College, near London, consists of 
two foundations, one commencing in 1690, the other 
in 1730. It was established at Mile End, in 1754, 
and removed to Homerton in 1772. Number of 
students sixteen ; but it can accommodate twenty, 
whose term of study is six years. Income £2,561. 
Theological Tutor, Rev. John Pye Smith, D. D. 3 
LL. D., F. R. S. Classical Tutor, Rev. Henry 
Lea Berry, A. M. 

2. Coward College, London, founded by William 
Coward, Esq. Its first tutor was Dr. Doddridge, 
at Northampton. At his] death, in 1751, it was 
removed to Daventry ; in 1789, back to Northamp- 
ton; in 1799, to Wymondley; and in. 1833, to the 
present commodious edifice, near Torrington 
Square, London. The students, sixteen in num- 



184 APPENDIX B. 

ber, receive their general education at University- 
College. Theological and resident Tutor, Rev. T. 
W. Jenkyn, D. D. 

3. Western Academy, Exeter, rose out of the 
bounty of the Congregational Fund Board of Lon- 
don, in 1752, and has been established successively 
at Mary Ottery, Bridport, Taunton, and Axmin- 
ster, where the successive Tutors held pastoral 
charges ; but a few y r ears ago it was removed to 
Exeter. Theological Tutor, Rev. George Payne, 
LL. D. ; Classical Tutor, Rev. O. T. Dobbin, B. A. 

4. Independent College, Rotherham, near Shef- 
field, originated in a society formed in the West 
Riding of Yorkshire, in 1776, for educating young 
men. The seminary commenced in 1766, under 
the Rev. James Scott, and has had as its Tutors, 
Dr. Edward Williams and Dr. James Bennet. In- 
come in 1839, £763, 8, 4. Students, six. Tutors, 
— Theological, Rev. W. H. Stowell; Classical 
Rev. T. Smith, A. M. 

5. Highbury College, London, instituted in 1778, 
at Mile End, under Dr. Addington, removed to 
Hoxton in 1791, under Dr. R. Simpson. Rev. J. 
Hooper, Dr. W. Harris, and Dr. H. F. Burder, 
have also been tutors successively. Income, £2,000. 
Students, forty-two. Philosophical and resident 
Tutor, Rev. H. Godwin ; Theological, Dr. Ebene- 
zer Henderson ; Classical, Dr. W. Smith. 



APPENDIX B. 185 

6. Newport Pagnell Institution, established in 
1783, chiefly by the influence of the Rev. John 
Newton and the poet Cowper ; under the Rev. T. 
Bull as its Tutor, whose son and grandson, as 
Theological and Classical Tutors respectively, now 
conduct the institution. Income, £550. Students, 
eight. 

7. Airedale College, near Bradford, Yorkshire, 
originated in 1784, with E. Hanson, Esq. of Lon- 
don, and the churches of Yorkshire. Its first Tutor 
was the Rev. W. Vint, of Idle. The new college 
was erected in 1831, through the munificence of 
Mrs. Bacon. Income £919. Students, twenty. 
Tutors— Theological, Rev. Walter Scott; Clas- 
sical, Rev. W. B. Clulow. 

8. Lancashire Independent College arose in 
1816, from a private seminary of the Rev. W. 
Roby, at Manchester. It was removed to Black- 
burn, when the Rev. Dr. Fletcher, now of Stepney, 
and the Rev. W. Hope, now of Lewisham Dis- 
senters' Grammar School, were appointed its Tu- 
tors. On Dr. Fletcher's removal to Stepney, it was 
placed under Dr. Payne, now of Exeter, who was 
succeeded by the present Tutor, the Rev. Gilbert 
Wardlaw. The Classical Tutor is Mr. D. B. Hay- 
ward. A commodious new college is now erecting 
at Manchester, at the cost of more than £20,000. 
Income, £939. Students, sixteen. 

16* 



186 APPENDIX B. 

9. Spring Hill College, near Birmingham, origi- 
nated in the munificence of one family, who have 
devoted £50,000 to its establishment. It was opened 
on 3d October, 1839. Students, twenty, Income, 
£1623. 125. Tutors,— Theological, Rev. F. Watts ; 
Classical, Rev. T. A. Barker ; Philosophical, Rev. 
H. Rogers. 

10. Independent College, Brecon, South Wales, 
has been but recently organized. The Theological 
Tutor is the Rev. Henry Griffiths ; the Classical, 
Rev. Edward Davis. Students, thirteen; but the 
premises are now getting enlarged to accommodate 
twenty-four. 

CHESHUNT COLLEGE 

was founded by the Countess of Huntingdon, at 
Trevecca, North Wales, in 1768, and was removed 
in 1792 to Cheshunt, Herts. Its late Theological 
Tutor, was the Rev. William Broadfoot, of the 
Scotch Secession Church, who was succeeded by 
the present Tutor, Dr. John Harris, the author of 
£ Mammon.' 5 The Rev. Joseph Sortaine, A. B. is 
Philosophical Tutor, and the Rev. Philip Smith, 
A. B. Classical Tutor. 

This institution does not belong to the Independ- 
ent body, although many of its officers and students 
are of that denomination. Income, £1707. Stu- 
dents, eighteen. 



APPENDIX B. 187 

BELFAST ROYAL ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION. 

Till the year 1810, the Presbyterians in the north 
of Ireland, who form a large and influential propor- 
tion of the population of Ulster, had no seminary 
in their own county, where their sons might obtain 
a liberal education, the University of Dublin admit- 
ting to its privileges none but those who conform to 
the Protestant Episcopal Church ; and as they re- 
quired the same course of instruction of candidates 
for the ministry among them, as was required of 
those belonging to the Church of Scotland and the 
Secession, they had no alternative but to send over 
their students to be educated in one or other of the 
Universities of Scotland. It was therefore resolved 
to establish in their own country an institution con- 
ducted on the plan of the Scottish Universities, ac- 
cessible to Christians of all sects. The number of 
students in this institution is about two hundred and 
fifty. The number of Professors in the faculty of 
Arts is nine ; in the faculty of Medicine, eight. In 
the former faculty are the Rev. S. Hanna, D. D. 3 
Rev. John Edgar, D. D., Professors of Divinity. 

Rev. S. Davidson, D. D., Professor of Biblical 
Criticism. 

Three other Professors are named, not members 
of the faculty, among whom is 

Rev. W. Kille ; Professor of Ecclesiastical History 



188 



APPENDIX C. 

At least one half of those Students who aspire to 
the Ministry, in the United States, are poor young 
men who are dependent on their own efforts for 
subsistence. If they turn aside from those employ- 
ments which other young men pursue, they imme- 
diately become dependent on others for their support. 
They have to resort at once to Schools, Colleges, 
and Seminaries, where the instruction is imparted 
which they need, and years are consumed before 
they reach that state of mental culture and disci- 
pline, which will justify Presbyteries in setting them 
apart as Teachers in the Church. During all this 
time it is doubtless their duty to do what they can 
for their own subsistence ; but it is plain, all they 
can do, compatible with a diligent pursuit of study, 
will defray but a small portion of their necessary 
expenses. 

Some have objected to the gratuitous education 
of young Clergymen, as accompanied with great 
evils. But it can easily be shown that if we have 
a learned, or even a well educated Ministry, this 



APPENDIX C. 189 

method must be pursued to a great extent ; that 
in no other way can young men be kept together 
under competent professors through a series of 
years, leading a life of study. And although now 
and then one may arise endowed with such trans- 
cendent talents and such perseverance that he will 
be educated and learned, let his circumstances be 
the most adverse possible, this cannot be expected 
of more than a very few in any generation. A 
man may labour daily at the forge, and still become 
distinguished as a scholar. Yet there is but one 
such man in our whole country; If those who 
served at the altar ate of the altar, and if the Min- 
ister of the Gospel is the labourer who is worthy of 
his hire ; why is not he also worthy of meat to eat 
and raiment to put on, who, in obedience to the 
call of Christ, has left that worldly business which 
would have sustained, and might have enriched 
him, to lead the self-denying life of the student, 
that he may preach the Gospel of Christ. 

It has been thought that this aid furnished to 
aspirants to the Ministry is a novelty which has 
sprung up in these late days and upon our own 
shores. But it must be as ancient as those days 
when inspiration ceased in the Church, and Minis- 
ters had to be qualified for their office by protracted 
study. It is a practice which had the sanction of 
the Reformers, and one of them at least knew the 
value of aid so afforded. Luther, while a scholar 



190 APPENDIX C. 

at Magdeburg, and afterwards at Eisenach, was 
obliged to go and sing in the streets to earn a 
morsel of bread. He was often repulsed from the 
doors at which he applied, and shed many tears 
in secret at the unkindness of men, and at the dis- 
tressing thought that he might be compelled to re- 
linquish his studies. But God mercifully provided 
for him, and opened the heart and doors of a Chris- 
tian family at the very moment when he knew not 
what would become of him. The wife of Conrad 
Cotta pitied the poor boy who sang at her door, and 
hastened to relieve him. Her husband gave him a 
hospitable reception, and made the poor scholar of 
Eisenach welcome under his roof. When he be- 
came the learned teacher of his age, he did not for- 
get this act of kindness, but reverting to Ursula, r the 
wife of Conrad, who supplied his wants when every 
one else repulsed him, uttered, says the historian^ 
this memorable saying : " There is nothing sweeter 
than the heart of a pious woman."* He always 
sympathized with " the poor Student." He thought 
the ecclesiastical benefices held by Bishops should 
be appropriated to the want of Students. " A 
poor Student," says he, "may well have spiritual 
livings to maintain his studying." " Bishoprics 
remain for the profit and use of poor Students" — ■ 

* DAubigne's History of the Reformation in Germany 
and Switzerland, vol. i. pp. 126, 127, 



APPENDIX C. 191 

meaning that the funds which supported the Bish- 
ops under the Papal rule should be so appropriated. 
He had much at heart the education of youth and 
the training up of Ministers. " Schools and Minis- 
ters," said he, " are better than the Councils."* 

The Calvinists (Huguenots) of France, in com- 
mon with the Reformed Churches, had their atten- 
tion directed to this subject at an early period. 
Their fifth National Synod, held at Paris in 1565, 
u advertises those Churches which have the means 
of their duty, to support those scholars in the Uni- 
versities, who may be capable one day of being 
employed in the Holy Ministry." 

The tenth Synod, which met at Figeal, Aug. 1579, 
has the following language in Art. V. of their pub- 
lic enactments : " Kings, Princes, and Noble Lords, 
and all those bodies likewise which possess eccle- 
siastical goods, as Provincial Synods, the Collo- 
quies, (Presbyteries,) and the opulent Churches, 
should be supplicated and exhorted to employ some 
portion of their said goods and revenues, to enable 
those to study Theology, who are already advanced 
in useful learning, that. they may be consecrated in 
the end to the Ministry." The Synod assembled 
at Rochelle, June, 1581, says, " We supplicate very 
humbly the King of Navarre, Monsieur the Prince, 
and other noblemen who are of our religion, to do 

* Luther's Table Talk. 



192 APPENDIX C, 

their duty in support of poor scholars and propos- 
ants for the Ministry ; and private persons are also 
expected to contribute to this object in all the 
Churches, that each Colloquy (Presbytery) may 
support at least one proposant, and more if possi- 
ble, by setting apart a fifth of all moneys raised for 
benevolent uses, for the support of the aforesaid 
proposants." 

At their meeting at Saumur, June, 1596, the Synod 
National exhort the provinces to maintain the 
" greatest number of proposants possible," and re- 
new their entreaties " to the Princes, Lords, Gentle- 
men, and the Commonalty, and all to whom God 
hath given property, to employ it for the use of such 
proposants." On another occasion, the fifth part of 
the moneys received from the King of France,[is di- 
rected to be applied to the same object. Students 
so assisted were directed to restore what had thus 
been furnished them, if they failed to enter the Min- 
istry ; and finally were compelled to give security 
that they would so refund.* 

Thus, in the article passed by Synods of the once 
r oble Huguenot Church of France, we see develop- 
ed precisely the same system which has been pur- 
sued in the management of the cause of Education 
in this country. 

* Aymon Synodes Nationaux— Tom. I.' pp. 70, 14(5^ 
149,197,185,315. 



APPENDIX C. 193 

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church in Scotland, as early as 1641, two hundred 
years ago, appointed, that "every Presbytery con- 
sisting of twelve Ministers should maintain one Bur- 
sar, (i. e. one student out of the common purse,) and 
where the number is fewer than twelve they shall be 
joined to another Presbytery ;" and in 1645, four 
years afterwards, ordained " that every such Bursar 
should have paid to him at least 100 pounds Scots 
yearly."* 

These extracts will serve to show the practice of 
those Churches, from which, since the Reformation, 
we are descended, and that in the branch of Chris- 
tian benevolence, we are not travelling untrodden 
ground. If we could ascend to the earliest times, 
we would find that the Church has always felt it her 
privilege and duty to stretch forth her hand, for the 
encouragement and aid of those who are seeking 
to serve God in the ministry of reconciliation. Con- 
stantine the Great provided poor students of The- 
ology with the means of support, and if we may 
judge from the provisions made for gratuitous edu- 
cation in the College of Armagh, students were 
supported in the Culdee seminaries of our British 
fathers in the middle ages.f 

* Steuart of Pardovan's Collections, Edinb. 1770. pp. 27, 
28. 

t Stuart's Hist. Memoirs of the City of Armagh, 
p. 593, 

17 



194 APPENDIX C* 

And if any one wishes for a Scripture example 
to the same amount, he may find it in the man of 
Baal-shalisha, 2 Kings iv. 42, who supplied the 
wants of the sons of the Prophets studying with 
Elisha at a time of dearth, see verse 38. " And there 
came a man from Baal-shalisha, and brought the 
man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves 
of barley, and full ears of corn in the husk thereof.' 5 
This is the first donation to a school of theology 
which history records. It was made two thousand 
and seven hundred years ago. And this is re- 
corded for our admonition, "upon whom the ends of 
the world are come.' 5 Some instances of charity of 
comparatively trifling value, as to the amount of 
the gift, are preserved in the pages of inspiration, 
to commend the excellent spirit which prompted 
the act. As the woman who anointed the Saviour's 
feet is to be held in everlasting remembrance, 
(Matt, xxvii. 30,) so the man of Baal-shalisha and 
his timely gift shall never be forgotten. 

From the facts given in Appendix B, we see that 
the annual income of the Bursaries in the Scotch 
College is £6797, or $33,985, which, distributed 
among the 523 incumbents, gives about $65 as the 
average proportion received by each student on 
these foundations. We have seen also, (Appendix 
B.,) that the students in the Dissenting Academies 
of England are supported by the funds of these in- 
stitutions. 



POSTSCRIPT. 

DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT SEEKING A PREPARATION 
FOR THE MINISTRY. 

The early experience of the writer, and his ac- 
quaintance with students preparing for the Min- 
istry, has led him to suppose that the want of some 
general and compendious guide to those studies 
necessary to the future minister, is felt by many ; 
and that if such a guide was at hand, it would save 
much time to the student, would stimulate him to 
exertions in a proper direction, and be of un- 
speakable value to him in many respects. Such 
a guide, were it as full as is required, would con- 
stitute a volume by itself. And it is only some 
brief directions which we propose now, but which, 
though brief, may meet some of the wants of those 
who are candidates for the holy ministry. More 
ample directions must be reserved for another 
time. 

We begin then by saying, that a course of col- 
lege study, or its equivalent, is the least amount of 



196 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 

general education with which one should venture 
upon those studies immediately preparatory to the 
ministry. All the studies of college are important 
all necessary, some in a greater and others in a 
less degree, to the study of divinity. Theology is 
the comprehension of all knowledge, and makes 
every department of human thought tributary to it. 
All physical science is employed in discovering the 
design and plan of the Author of Nature in the 
material world ; and all metaphysical and ethical, 
in discovering and defining the Creator's design 
and plan in the world of intellectual and moral be- 
ings. All sciences may be and are properly con- 
nected with theological truths more or less closely, 
and he is not a complete theologian who is not ac- 
quainted with them all. There are no branches of 
college study which are not important, either for 
the discipline they furnish to the mind, or for the 
valuable and useful knowledge they convey. The 
mathematical studies are the least directly con- 
nected of any with the preacher's and pastor's 
wants, yet are the most useful in training the mind 
to exactness and conclusiveness in reasoning and 
in strengthening its powers of attention. Nor are 
the habits these studies form incompatible with the 
studies and labours of the theologian. Barrow, one 
of England's best mathematicians, was also one 
of her most eloquent preachers and able divines. 
And no man can be called well educated, who 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 197 

has not made himself master of the geometry 
of Euclid, of the algebraic calculus, of trigonome- 
try, and its application to astronomy, navigation, 
and surveying, of the mensuration of superficies 
and solids, and the various branches of this depart- 
ment of knowledge which are pursued in a college 
course. And however the short-sighted and in- 
dolent young man may lament over the time spent 
on such pursuits, and may insist that they can have 
no utility in preparing him for the ministry — he 
who has a spark of a scholar's enthusiasm, or de- 
lights at all in the exercise of his intellectual pow- 
ers, will devote himself assiduously to them. And 
he may be assured that no intelligent minister of 
the gospel, who has employed himself in these 
studies with diligence in his early life, would, for 
any consideration, permit the knowledge and men- 
tal vigour he has thus acquired to be subtracted 
from him, were this possible. 

The departments too of Natural Philosophy all 
illustrate the power, skill, wisdom, and goodness of 
God. Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Op- 
tics, Electricity, and, above all, Astronomy, are so 
many sciences, which, while useful and indispensa- 
ble to the education of a well-informed man, are ne- 
cessary to the theologian, as illustrating the vari- 
ous departments of Natural Theology. 

The Natural Sciences, also, Chemistry, Mineral- 
ogy, and Geology, Botany, Zoology, and Anatomy, 
17* 



198 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 

as all intelligent men know, furnish their full share 
of argument and illustration in the several branches 
of Divinity. Without a knowledge of these several 
departments of science such books as Derham's 
Astro and Physico Theology, Ray's Wisdom of 
God, Foster's Natural Religion, Paley's Natural 
Theology, Chalmers's Astronomical Discourses, the 
Bridge water Treatises, and many volumes of the 
Bampton Lectures, could never have been written ; 
and without it these and other important contribu- 
tions to the study of Theology cannot be profitably 
read. 

The student who would be prepared for the min- 
istry cannot dispense with a knowledge of Moral 
Philosophy, which indeed may be regarded as one 
of the departments of Theology itself. It is ex- 
ceedingly necessary for him to settle in his own 
mind the true nature of moral obligation, its founda- 
tion and standard, the just distinctions of right and 
wrong, and be able to apply them to the various 
relations man sustains to human society and to his 
Creator and Judge. He should add to this a know- 
ledge of the Laws of Nations, of Political Economy , 
and of the Constitution and Government of his own 
country. For not only does the preacher sustain 
a relation to his own congregation, but in some 
measure he is the conservator of the public morals, 
and, like the Jewish prophet, a watchman over the 
whole nation. 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 199 

The study of History is important, in a thousand 
ways, to the minister of Christ, as illustrating the 
dealings of God with nations as well as individuals, 
and teaching the true nature of man ; as revealing 
those principles which are conservative or destruc- 
tive of man's virtue and peace ; as pointing out those 
things which have contributed to the advancement 
or retrocession of the mind in knowledge and 
strength ; as disclosing the source of those influences 
which have contributed to form the present genera- 
tion of man ; as indicating the dangerous and the 
safe ; as enabling one to anticipate and provide for 
the future, and as illustrating the sacred writings 
by early traditions, or the cotemporaneous history 
of heathen nations. With the study of history 
should be connected Geography, Modern and An- 
cient, which last is too much neglected, and Chro- 
nology, with which the clergyman should be well 
acquainted. The study of History is the study of 
a lifetime, and should be begun early. It requires 
a vast amount of reading, and should never be sus- 
pended. It illuminates every subject, enlarges the 
mind, and furnishes the public speaker with an in- 
exhaustible fund of illustration and argument. 

To this he should add the study of English Lite- 
rature, making himself familiar with the best models 
of composition our language presents, and aiming 
to acquire an energetic, free, and graceful style of 
expression. It is of vast consequence to him as a 



200 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

minister of the gospel that he write well, and form 
correct habits of elocution. The masters in Rheto- 
ric and Oratory will receive a due share of his 
attention. 

But there are two departments of preparatory 
study that are more than any others indispensable 
to the theologian. They are the departments of 
Logic and Metaphysics, or Intellectual Philosophy, 
and the sjtudy of the learned languages. The first 
of these departments is unspeakably important, as 
acquainting man with his own powers and nature, 
as introducing him into the secrets of the human 
heart, with which he has to deal both as a theolo- 
gian and a preacher of the gospel, and as accus- 
toming him to those habits of investigation which 
he is to exercise through life, and to that system of 
moral reasoning on which his power as a preacher 
will greatly depend. And the second, the study of 
the classical languages of Greece and Rome, for 
the varied assistance they will yield him in theolo- 
gical study. 

All persons know that he can have no pretence 
to be called a well-informed man if ignorant of 
these languages, and that a knowledge of them is 
the lowest round in that ladder by which the student 
mounts into the superior regions in which learning 
dwells. The beautiful and chaste models of classic 
Greece, and the noble majesty of the Roman ora- 
tors and bards, are necessary to chasten the style, 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 201 

to furnish a mould in which all the composures of 
the mind, and all the performances of the orators 
are to be cast. The study of the languages them- 
selves is necessary for the proper understanding 
of our own tongue, into which these languages 
enter as important elements, and to give copious- 
ness, richness, and correctness to the diction which 
the preacher uses. The Latin language, which for 
so many ages has been the common and universal 
language of the learned, is important to him, as 
containing so many writings in all the departments 
of theology, to which he can obtain no access what- 
ever without a knowledge of this tongue. To say 
nothing of the Latin fathers, the writers in theology 
of all the countries of Europe since the Reformation, 
till a very recent period, the British writers for the 
most part excepted, have made the Latin tongue 
the vehicle of their thoughts, the repository of all 
the learning of their laborious lives. The student 
of Theology, therefore, should be exceedingly fa- 
miliar with the Latin tongue ; and if at the time of 
commencing the study of Divinity he should find it 
difficult to read with ease the works of Theology 
written in that tongue, he should as soon as possible 
surmount this difficulty, till the Latin style of theo- 
logians has become familiar. The Greek has its 
independent claims to the study of the aspirant to 
the ministerial office, as it is one of the original lan- 
guages of the sacred Scriptures, which it will be 



202 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

the business of his lifetime to study and expound. 
And in pursuing these languages the labors of the 
student should be directed^to three points: 1st. To 
obtaining an accurate grammatical acquaintance 
with these tongues, especially the Greek, since this 
must be the foundation of all advantage to be derived 
from the study of the language at all. 2d. The 
obtaining an acquaintance with the manners, cus- 
toms, antiquities, and especially the mythology of 
these nations, both of which have so much to do 
with a correct explanation of the New Testament 
and the ancient ecclesiastical writers. 3d. The 
student ought to rise higher, if possible, to the ap- 
preciation and enjoyment of the beauties which the 
Greek and Roman writers exhibit, and to the prin- 
ciples of correct taste displayed in their composi- 
tions, or traced out by their writers on oratory and 
style. 

By the study of these languages, also, he will 
acquire skill in the interpretation of ancient authors^ 
which will be of inestimable value to him as an 
interpreter of Scripture. 

The teacher of theology is often pained at see- 
ing with what a small degree of knowledge and 
mental discipline, young men sometimes think 
themselves competent to enter upon the study of 
theology — a study which is the noblest and most 
exalted man can pursue, and which tasks the powers 
of the strongest minds. Oftentimes those present 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 208 

themselves for admission to our seminaries who are as 
yet too little advanced to make use of the labours of 
those mighty minds which have gone before them, 
too little to have any proper conception of the 
method of critical investigation which the theology 
an must adopt, or to understand a lengthened argu- 
ment, much less to conduct one himself with suc^ 
eess. A student needs far more than a mere aca- 
demical education, and far more of discipline of 
mind than it supposes, to be at all competent to pur^ 
sue successfully that system of theological education 
taught in our seminaries. It is comparatively of 
little service to be dragged through the curriculum 
of study, to master which, one must seize every sub- 
ject with a strong grasp, and discuss it with some 
portion of independent effort and thought. 

Having now acquired this propaideutical know^ 
ledge, according to the course ordinarily pursued 
in this country, he becomes connected with a 
theological school,* and it will be the duty of hw 

* Some have felt disposed to give to our colleges a pro* 
fessional character , to connect with them all a professorship 
of Theology, and to have the entire course of the Theolo- 
gical Student completed during the period now allowed ta 
college study. This method does not commend itself to 
my own judgment, as suited to advance the cause of Theo» 
logical learning. " I should deeply regret," says Bishop 
Kaye, in his charge to his clergy in 1831, "any change 
that gave to the studies of our universities more of a strictly 



204 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 

instructors to spread before him at an early day, a& 
in a map, an outline of that circle of knowledge 

professional character. My view — which was also the 
view of those wise and learned men who prescribed the 
course of academical studies- — my view of those studies is, 
that they are designed to discipline the mind of the stu- 
dent ; to form him to habits of patient and persevering at- 
tention, and of accurate reasoning ; to communicate to 
him those general principles, without the knowledge of 
Which it is scarcely possible to engage successfully in any 
literary pursuit ; to lay, in a word, the foundation on which 
the structure of professional learning is afterwards to be 
raised. A strictly professional education, commenced at 
too early a period, has for the most part a tendency to 
cramp the mind, to narrow its views, to subject it to the 
trammels of system, to dispose it to acquiesce without 
examination in the conclusions laid before it, perhaps 
even to unfit it for the task of examination. The advan- 
tages of it are rather of a mechanical character ; it places 
a set of tools in the student's hands, and renders him expert 
in the use of them ; but their application is confined with- 
in narrow limits. Observe, on the contrary, the quickness 
and energy with which one whose education has been 
conducted on a more liberal plan applies himself to profes- 
sional studies : he displays at once an aptitude to every 
pursuit, however foreign to his former occupation ; nothing 
comes amiss to him ; he soon places himself on a level in 
extent of professional learning, with those whose life has been 
directed to that single object j while in the application of 



BiRECf tOftS TO A STUDENT. 203 

With which he should become acquainted. Each 
teacher may have his own views as to the sequence 
to be observed in the topics which are to come before 
the student's mind for investigation, for these views 
are often determined by the course he himself has 
pursued, and the order in which this knowledge has 
come to be arranged in his own mind. We lack 
iri our seminaries that introductory course of Lec- 
tures on Encyclopaedia and Methodology which is 
the first which is heard by the student in the Ger- 
man Universities, and which is designed to spread 
out before his view that circle of studies which 
ought to be included in a complete Theological 
course. The student in the outset should obtain a 
conspectus, a comprehensive and distinctive view of 
the field of knowledge which he is to traverse, that 
he may know whither to direct his course, how to 
occupy in the best manner those fragments of time 
which are not devoted to the regular studies of his 

his learning to practice, he possesses incalculable advantage^ 
in the power which the habit of close and accurate reason- 
ing confers, of seizing at once the important point of every 
question, and in the copiousness of illustration, which his 
stores of general knowledge supply." Let the student 
acquire first all this discipline of mind, by a general educa- 
tion, and then resort with these advantages to a profession- 
al school, and then the evils thus forcibly described cannot 
exist, 

18 



806 DIRECTIONS TO A SWJ»£N!& 

clasg, and what amount of intellectual labour and 
industry it may be necessary for him to bestow on 
that department of study to which he has dedicated 
his life* For want of this a multitude of young 
men are misdirecting their efforts, or wasting, 
through the mere want of knowing what to do, no 
small portion of the golden hours of their youth. 

Theology has been divided into natural and fe^ 
vealed, v/hich is a very common division, but too 
general to serve any very useful purpose as a guide 
to the student. Again it has been divided into Em^ 
egetical Theology, Systematic or Doctrinal The^ 
ology, Polemical, Casuistical, Historical, Pastoral, 
and Practical Theology* 

A more useful division is into-^I. Exegetical The^ 
ology, which embraces the whole theory and prac^ 
tice of interpreting the sacred Scriptures, the docu- 
ments which contain our Faith* II. Doctrinal The- 
ology, embracing a view of the doctrines of natural 
and revealedreiigion systematically arranged* IIL 
Historical Theology, embracing a view of the extern 
nal and internal history of the Church, and of the 
controversies which have existed in different ages, 
respecting its doctrines, IV. Practical Theology^ 
the design of which is to teach the use which the 
preacher is to make of the knowledge he has gained 
in the labours of the pulpit and the cure of souls* 

These departments of Theology might be more 
fully described, and the subdivisions they each con= 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 207 

tain presented to the eye. But we prefer now to con- 
sider the several studies to which the student should 
devote himself during each year of his Theological 
course. 

THE FIRST YEAR. 

It is a subject of great regret that the student 
could not become acquainted with the elements of 
the Hebrew language before entering the Theologi- 
cal Seminary, and that he is not qualified in the 
outset of his course to enter upon the critical study 
of the Hebrew Scriptures. Since, however, this is 
not the case, a knowledge of the Hebrew language 
should be at once acquired. To this the student 
should devote himself with all diligence and perse- 
verance, remembering that the difficulties which 
the language presents will soon vanish before a 
determined attempt to master them. He must allow 
his mind to perceive the truly oriental structure of 
the language, without forcing upon it the rules of 
the occidental tongues with which he has hitherto 
been acquainted. He will note in the outset, that 
as the Hebrew is read in a reversed order from the 
tongues of the West, so the verbal forms are arranged 
in a reversed order, and he should not endeavour to 
force upon the Hebrew nouns ihose forms and de- 
signations of declension which belong to the Latin 
and Greek. In the outset, he should learn to pro- 
nounce the vowels distinctly, and form the habit of 



208 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

correct pronunciation according to the system he 
adopts; not allowing himself to miscall and confound 
the distinctive vowel sounds ; and this he can best 
do by reading the Hebrew aloud for a season to 
himself, but more especially in the hearing of some 
fellow-student, who can detect and correct his false 
pronunciation. Let him endeavour to obtain a cor- 
rect view of the theory of the vowel changes, and 
of the cause of them, viz. the weak and imperfect 
letters, &c. Having studied the grammar with 
care, let him commence the translation of some 
portion of Scripture, with its grammatical analysis, 
in which, besides the assistance of his teacher, the 
chrestomathy of Prof. Stuart, or that of Dr. Nord- 
heimer, will greatly aid him. With grammars of 
the Hebrew we are now in this country well sup- 
plied, having in the first place that of Prof. Stuart, 
on the basis of Gesenius, then that of Gesenius 
himself, as used in the schools of Germany, trans- 
lated by Prof. Conant, with grammatical exercises, 
and a brief chrestomathy attached, then that of , 
Prof. Bush, with a brief chrestomathy at the end, 
and lastly, that of Dr. Nordheimer, which is more 
full and ample than either. There are other gram- 
mars accessible to us, but these are those which the 
student will be most likely to use. Of those men- 
tioned, the grammar of Prof. Bush appears to be 
the most simple and brief, and that of Nordheimer 
the most original and philosophic. Those of Prof 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 209 

Stuart and Gesenius give with adequate fulness 
all the facts in the language, with little of theory, 
and little effort to account for them. We have 
found Nordheimer beautifully clear on a number of 
points, excelling any other grammarian in these 
respects \ but his book consisting of two volumes, 
embracing more than six hundred octavo pages, is 
too voluminous for beginners in the language. 
The habit of writing paradigms of the verbs is 
useful to a beginner, and when he has advanced 
somewhat it is a useful exercise to translate portions 
of the historical books of the New Testament into 
the Hebrew, which, on account of the similarity of 
the idiom, may easily be done by the student who 
has obtained a sufficient vocabulary of Hebrew 
words. The Latin index at the end of Stockius's, 
Buxtorf's, or Simonis's Lexicon, will assist in the 
selection of Hebrew words. The whole may be 
submitted to the teacher for correction, or compared 
with the Hebrew New Testament published by the 
London Society for the conversion of the Jews. 

It will be proper for the student also to refresh 
his mind by a review of the grammar of the Greek 
language, especially in respect to the theory of the 
tenses, voices, and moods, and the whole syntactical 
construction of the language. If time allows, he 
may read Winer's Idioms of the New Testament, 
translated by J. H. Agnew and O. G. Ebbeke, or 
he may consult it in his critical reading of the New 
18* 



210 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

Testament by means of the copious index of Scrip- 
ture passages at the close of the book, and pursue 
the reading of it as leisure is afforded through the 
year. The grammars of Matthise and Buttman will 
be found exceedingly useful and important for con- 
sultation. Indeed, some Greek grammar should be 
constantly at hand while studying the New Testa- 
ment, and no grammatical difficulty should be 
allowed to pass unresolved. Prof. Stuart's Gram- 
mar of the New Testament is a convenient and 
useful grammar for the theological student, and the 
syntax has been digested with care from the best 
and most complete authorities. 

Let the student provide himself with a good 
critical edition of the New Testament and a good 
copy of the Hebrew Bible. Knapp's or Hahn's 
New Testament he will find the most convenient 
for his purposes, or Griesbach, if it should be more 
convenient to obtain it. Hahn's Hebrew Bible will 
be the best for him to use, because of its clear and 
beautiful type, its correctness, and low price. Jahn's 
Hebrew Bible has some advantages \ it gives in the 
margin the most important critical readings, exhibits 
the poetic parallelisms by the method of printingj 
through those books which were deemed poetical 
by the Masorites ; but it is without the full conse- 
cution of the accents, a defect indeed, but one of 
little importance to the beginner. Some time in the 
course of this year's reading he should inform him- 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 211 

self as to the history of the text of the Old and 
New Testaments, as to the care with which these 
books have been transmitted, and the evidence he 
has that the text now before him is the same which 
proceeded from the pens of the prophets and apos- 
tles. By inquiry he may find that the lectures of 
his Professors will cover this ground. But if not, 
then he will find Taylor on the transmission of An- 
cient Books, Home's Introduction, or Carpenter's 
or Marsh's Lectures on Biblical Criticism, to give 
him all the information he now needs on these sub- 
jects. He cannot afford to arrest his course of 
study to obtain this information. Let it be a matter 
which will enter into his reading on the present 
subjects of his studies. 

Let him now, and as rapidly as possible, yet with 
an attentive, thoughtful mind, read over some sys- 
tem of Interpretation. That of Ernesti, translated 
by Prof. Stuart, contains the serhina rerum on 
this subject : with this he may unite the reading o f 
Dr. McClelland's little " Manual of Sacred Inter- 
pretation," and that portion of Home's Introduc- 
tion in his second volume which treats of the same 
subject. This course of reading will point out to 
him on what points he needs further information to 
enable him to understand the sacred Scriptures. 
To obtain a more complete view of the entire course 
of knowledge connected with the Bible, he may 



212 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

read through Ernesti's Institutes, as translated by 
Terrot in the Edinburg Biblical Cabinet, or may 
continue his readings in Home, or for the New 
Testament may read Fosdick's or Wait's transla- 
tion of Hug's Introduction. 

As he pursues this course of reading he will find 
that he needs the following branches of knowledge. 

1. A complete knowledge of the Geography 
of the Bible. 

He will best obtain this by reading the little book 
prepared by the Messieurs Alexander, now Profs. 
J. N. & J. A. Alexander, published by the Ameri- 
can Sunday School Union, after which his know- 
ledge may be extended by reading, as he has time, 
the larger work of Rosenmuiler, translated in the 
Edinburg Biblical Cabinet, Rohr's Palestine, the 
works of Reland and Bochart, and the travels of 
Niebuhr, Burkhart, and others, in the East, but espe- 
cially Dr. Robinson's Biblical Researches in Pales- 
tine, Mount Sinai, and Arabia Petrsea. A portion 
only of these writings will be read probably this 
year. The student has much to do. Vita brevis 
est, ars longa. 

2. A complete view of the political, social, and 
religious antiquities of the Jews. He may read 
Jahn's Archaeology, or that portion of Home's In- 
troduction which treats of Jewish Antiquities, 
other books are Jennings's Hebrew Antiquities, 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 213 

Burder's Oriental Customs, Harmer's Observations, 
Godwin's Moses and Aaron, Buxtorf de Synagoga, 
Selden de Sanhedris. 

3. A conspectus of the contents, and arrange- 
ment, and an estimate of the doctrinal value of each 
book in the Bible. For this knowledge he may 
consult Jahn's Introduction to the Old Testament 
Hug's Introduction to the New Testament, and 
Home. 

4. A chronological arrangement in his own mind, 
as far as practical, of the several books contained 
in the Old and New Testaments, and of the events 
they narrate. For this purpose he may make use 
of the Bible chronologically arranged by Towns- 
end, and may commence a course of reading in 
Biblical History, which may not be completed this 
year, using Josephus, Shuckford, and Prideaux's 
Connections, or Stackhouse's History of the Bible, 
and Jahn's Hebrew Commonwealth, translated by 
Dr. Stowe. 

But let him commence as soon as he has obtained 
some insight into the principles of interpretation, 
the exegetical study of some portions of the sa- 
cred Scriptures. He will be guided in the selection 
of these parts by his instructor. In Hebrew, let him 
read, we should say, the most striking and important 
parts of the Pentateuch, the book of Ecclesiastes 
and a part of Proverbs, and the Psalms. As he 
commences with this last mentioned book, to be- 



214 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

come acquainted with the poetry of the Hebrews, 
let him read Lowth's Lectures on Hebrew Poetry 
and his Introduction to Isaiah ; Herder's Spirit of 
Hebrew Poetry, translated by Pres. Marsh ; De 
Wette's Introduction to the Psalms, translated by 
Prof. Torrey for the Bibl. Repository. In his early 
reading of the Hebrew, he should be attentive to 
the grammatical analysis, since no interpretation of 
the original text can be correct which does not 
arise out of this process. He should use the best 
lexicons. That of Gesenius, translated by Dr. Rob- 
inson, is superior to any other, though that of 
Simonis, edited by Winer, is full and rich in in- 
struction. In the former the alphabetic order of 
the words is followed without reference to their 
derivation, in the latter the roots are arranged 
in alphabetic order, and the derivatives are found 
under their roots. The former method is the easi- 
est to beginners, the latter is the most philosophical, 
and well suited to exhibit the structure of the lan- 
guage, and is the method pursued by Buxtorf and 
most of the older lexicographers. The student must 
ply his lexicon most diligently, observing carefully 
the shades of difference in the words, and ever with 
a thoughtful mind. His lexicon and grammar, with 
the expositions of his professor, are now his main 
dependence. 

A good translation is a continued commentary on 
the text. Besides the English, which he should 



DtitfcCTtON'S TO A STUDENT* 215 

continually compare with the original, he should 
Use that of the LXX, and he may keep constantly 
before his eyes the French of De Sacy or the Ger- 
man of Luther, if he is capable of using them, and 
so perfect himself in these languages while learn- 
ing the Hebrew. The translations of Augusti and 
De Wette he may also refer td ; but should be 
Constantly aware of the Ueologieal and rational* 
Istic tendency of most of the German writers in 
theology. 

The student should not distract bis mind by con* 
suiting too many commentaries. Calvin, on the 
Writings of Moses, will furnish him with clear lo* 
gical views of the meaning of the te&t and the 
doctrines it presents, but without much verbal 
criticism. RosenmMer, though his rationalism 
must be guarded against, will afford him the 
most philological information On this and other 
portions of the Old Testament* Parens on Gene^ 
sis is very full and complete, especially in doc^ 
trinal information, and one of the most valuable 
commentaries on this book. Among our English 
divines, Bishop Patrick should be consulted* Sha^ 
ion Turners Sacred History of the World, Stack- 
house's History of the Bible^ Graves on the Pen- 
tateuch, MichaehVs Commentaries on the Laws of 
Moses, and Maimonides's Moreh Nebhochim, he 
Will also find important books. Among our own 
American writers we have Prof, Bush's GommeB* 



216 DIHECTIONS ¥0 A STUDENT?* 

taries on this portion of Scripture, and Turners 
Companion to Genesis, by the Rev. Dr. Turner, of 
New York* On Proverbs, besides Rosenmuller, 
he may use Cartwright, Holden, and Schultens* 
On Ecciesiastes, Rosenmtiller, Wardlaw, Holden 3 
Bishop Reynolds, Bishop Patrick, Geier, and Ram- 
bach. On the Psalms, Hengstenberg's Christology^ 
for the Messianic Psalms, translated by Professor 
Keith ; Venema, Rosenmuller, Calvin, Luther on 
the first twenty-two Psalms, and the forthcoming 
work of Hengstenberg. 

In the New Testament, he may, if diligent, read 
critically the four Gospels (which he should study 
in Newcome's Harmony), and one of the Epistlesj 
as that to the Romans, or that to the Hebrews. On 
the four Gospels, he may use Calvin and Beza; for 
philological commentary, Kuinoel and Bloom- 
field, Campbell on the four Gospels ; if he reads 
German, he may use Olshausen. On John, he has 
Tholuck, and the prince of commentators, Lampe. 
On the Epistle to the Romans, Hodge, Stuart, Cal- 
vin, Beza. On the Epistle to the Hebrews, the 
great work of Owen, most convenient in Wil- 
liams's abridgment, and Stuart He will require 
a special lexicon of the New Testament idiom. A 
few years since Schleusner was much in use, and 
is still convenient and valuable, mainly as a com- 
mentary. Since Schleusner, we have had the Lex- 
icon of Brettschneider, the Clavis Philologica of 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 217 

Wahl, which Dr. Robinson translated and pub^ 
lished in 1825, and the Lexicon of the last named 
gentleman, which, in this country, is the one in 
common use, and the most desirable, 

It is of great utility to the student to oblige hinv 
self to write careful translations into his own lan- 
guage of some of the more striking or argumenta^ 
live portions of the Scriptures. Should he write out 
careful translations of portions of the Psalms, or an 
entire translation of one of the Epistles, it would 
be of inestimable advantage to him. To perform 
this duty satisfactorily to himself, he must study the- 
portion to be translated most thoroughly and accu^ 
rately, understand the force of each word and the 
nature of each argument, and then express it in 
equivalent words in his own tongue, Another ex- 
cellent exercise, assisting one* to understand the 
doctrinal portions of Scripture, is the writing of an 
analysis of the argument, and presenting it in its 
several steps, which gives the mind a clear view of 
the whole scope, and the relation each thought and 
word has to it as a whole. From these two exer- 
cises the writer has derived more benefit than from 
any other in this department of study. 

He should endeavour to illustrate the style of the 
Greek Testament, by comparing passage with pas- 
sage. To aid him here, he may use the Greek 
Concordance of Schmidt. He should extend the 
comparison to the language of the Old Testament^ 
19 



218 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 

which has greatly affected the style of the New* 
He should study the Hellenisms of the New Testa- 
ment, by seeking the original sources of knowledge* 
It is not well to make his study too easy by resort- 
ing too much to translations and commentaries. 
He should eschew paraphrases, and be sure not to 
lean upon them. Let him make himself as familiar 
as may be with the Greek style of the Apocrypha 
and the LXX, for which purpose, beside the books 
themselves, he may use for reference and consulta- 
tion the Greek Concordance of Trommius, and the 
Lexicon of Schleusner on the Septuagint, which 
also includes the substance of the Thesaurus of Biel. 
The Hebraistic idiom of the New Testament he 
can easily ascertain in any case, by attempting to 
render the expression into Hebrew ; its correspond- 
ence with the classical idioms, or the reverse, by 
an attempt to render it into classic Greek, if his 
knowledge of this language is sufficient for this, 
which, alas ! is not always, nor in this country often, 
the case. 

He should hear the exegetical and other lectures 
of his Professors pen in hand, writing after them 
with diligence, and reviewing the whole exercise 
afterwards at his own room. Few students can 
trust to their memories for any length of time, and 
in all reviews of the portion of Scripture studied, 
these notes of lectures will be found of great con- 
sequence. Without them the e7tea nxzqozvxa of his 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 219 

teacher will have passed away beyond the possi- 
bility of recall. The judgment of an experienced 
teacher as to the meaning of the text is of great 
consequence to the young student of the Scriptures. 
Through the course of this year, as a collateral 
study, he should make a commencement in the de- 
partment of Systematic Theology. He should 
begin with Natural Theology, and first, with the 
argument for the being of a God, and then ascer- 
tain which of his attributes are taught by the light 
of Nature, and how far they are so taught. He 
should investigate these subjects in the most tho- 
rough manner his time and facilities will permit. 
His teacher will of course direct him as to the best 
method of study and the best authors. He will ex- 
amine the arguments for the divine existence pre- 
sented by Clarke, Bentley, Locke, and Paley, and 
will weigh the objections and hypotheses of atheists, 
ancient and modern. It is indeed matter of praise 
to God that few professed atheists can now be 
found, still the thorough scholar will acquaint him- 
self with their views and grapple with their argu- 
ments. 

He will then examine how far Reason is an ade- 
quate guide to man, establish the necessity of a 
revelation, inquire whether one has been made, and 
what claim the Old and New Testaments have to 
be that revelation. He should then consider the 
question of the inspiration of the writers, and im 



220 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

what sense and degree they were inspired. The 
whole subject is important, and should be viewed 
not only in relation to the positive proofs of divine 
revelation, but also in reference to the various ob- 
jections which skeptical men have alleged against 
the Scriptures. The student should present all his 
own difficulties freely to his instructor, that they 
may be met and removed, and should especially 
consult him as to the authors he reads, that he may 
be directed to the best books, and not waste his 
time upon those of inferior value. 

He should now consider what belong to the ca- 
nonical Scriptures, and what not, and why he is to 
receive those writings included in the Old and New 
Testaments, and no others, as the inspired rule of 
faith and practice. The controversy with the Ro- 
manists as to the Apocrypha is to be investigated, 
and the pretended gospels supplementary to the New 
Testament, are also to be considered and set aside. 
In reference to this and many other points, the 
lectures of his Professors may give him all impor- 
tant information, or he may consult for himself the 
little book of Dr. Alexander on the Canon, or Cosin's 
Scholastic History of the Canon, or Jeremiah Jones 
on the Canon of the New Testament, and Eichorn 
on the Canon of the Old. The writings of the Cath- 
olic writers, Huet Demonstratio Evangelica, Dupin 
on the Canon, and Jahn's Introduction to the OldTes- 
tamentmight be consulted, but most of these must be 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 221 

deferred to a later period, when freedom from the rou- 
tine of academical life will afford him greater leisure. 

Another subject which he should here examine, 
is the sufficiency of the Scriptures, in opposition to 
the Fathers and Tradition. He may read the im- 
portant work of Daille on the right use of the Fath- 
ers, and Tillotson and Good© on the Rule of Faith. 

The student may this year add to his knowledge 
of the languages, the French, the German, or the 
Italian.. The first easy of acquisition, and useful as 
the ordinary language of intercourse abroad ; the 
second opening rich stores of knowledge to the 
student in some departments of Theology, though 
the German writers must be read with care ; the 
last less useful and indispensable. Or, if the student 
chooses, he may substitute for these modern 
tongues the study of the Chaldee and the Syriac, 
or the Arabic. Not every student should attempt 
these languages, but only those who have a taste 
lor sacred Philology, and design pursuing it to a 
considerable extent. The two first of these dialects 
will be found easy to one who has made considera- 
ble proficiency in the Hebrew ; the last is a very 
copious language, and in this country, with the 
means we have, not easily learned. Riggs's Chal- 
dee Grammar with the brief Chrestomathy attached 
will initiate the student into the first, with which the 
large and very valuable Chaldee, Talmudical, and 
Rabbinic Lexicon of Buxtorf should be used. Hoff- 



222 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

man's Syriac Grammar, or, to those who read the 
German, Uhleman, with Castell's Syriac Lexicon 
for the latter. Yates's Grammar in English is not 
equal to either of the others. De Sacy's Gram- 
mar and Chrestomathy, with Freytag's Lexicon for 
the Arabic. 

The Classical Studies of his college life should 
not be entirely intermitted. He might read this 
year Cicero's Tusculan Questions De Contemnenda 
Morte, or De Deorum, andXenophon's Memorabilia 
of Socrates. 

With Herder, we recommend to the student that 
he recall in the. evening of every day, according to 
the direction of Pythagoras, the ideas and impres- 
sions of the day past, either by a lively effort of the 
mind, or in conversation with a fellow-student, that 
those impressions may be imprinted on the memory, 
and the mind be quickened after a season of rest for 
new effort. If his memory is weak and his profit- 
ing small, let him not be discouraged, but nerve 
himself to new and resolute attempts at self-disci- 
pline and the extension of his knowledge. 

Above all, let him attend with diligence and 
heart-felt earnestness to all the duties of personal 
religion, that he may be divinely assisted in the 
regulation of his affections, the culture of his mind, 
and the attainment of knowledge. 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 223 

SECOND YEAR. 

The main study of this year should be System- 
atic Theology. The first year has been prepara- 
tory. The student should enter upon this study 
now with all his heart. 

There are various methods of pursuing the study. 
One is by the hearing of Lectures, as is the method 
in the German and Scotch Universities. The sys- 
tem of Lecturing has been of great service to the 
Church and the theological world in general. But 
for this system the vakied treatises on Systematic 
Divinity by Dick, Hill, and others, would not have 
existed. But to the pupil, this, though the easiest 
and most agreeable, is, if the only method he adopts 
of acquiring a knowledge of theology, the least 
useful. 

Another is the study of theology from a text- 
book. A text-book in the hands of an able in- 
structor, who makes it the basis of his own oral in- 
structions, and leads his students louse it merely as 
the guide and thread of their own independent 
investigations, will answer a valuable purpose. But 
there is a great temptation to lean wholly on the 
author and to learn theology merely by rote. A 
young theologian thus trained may be, and ordina- 
rily will be, the most ready and prompt at an aca- 
demical or presbyterial examination, but his mind 
has not been exercised by the process of investiga- 



224 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

tion, he has not grappled with the subject, has not 
reasoned it out himself, and is less able to contend 
with the difficulties and objections which the adver- 
saries of truth may bring against it. 

A third method is the study of theology by topics 
or subjects. As an illustration of what is meant by 
this method, and as a valuable aid and guide both 
to the authors to be consulted and the course to be 
pursued, the student is directed to Dr. Woods's 
course of study, which exhibits the method adopted 
by that distinguished teacher, or to Prof. Wilkin's 
"Ecclesiastes, or Discourse Concerning the Gift of 
Preaching," an old but still a valuable book. The 
advantage of this method is, that it trains the mind 
to independent thought and investigation ; and as 
the student is supposed to compose dissertations on 
the several topics presented in the course, it trains 
him to the use of the pen, and to the best method 
of logical argument. 

As this is the course we would recommend, we 
proceed to present several thoughts in reference to 
this mode of study. 

It is plain that this method could not be adopted 
with any propriety until the student had studied the 
Scriptures somewhat extensively, and in a philolo- 
gical and fundamental way. Since divine revela- 
tion is the fountain whence true theology is mainly 
to be drawn, our method of investigation should be 
eminently biblical. The Scriptures were studied. 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 225 

the first year critically and philologically, and not 
specially in a doctrinal way ; and this was well. 
Now we must seek in them the truth respecting the 
doctrines of religion. We must search them with 
a candid and devout mind, must not adduce as proof 
of doctrine any passage whose meaning is doubtful, 
l)ut must seek for the strong passages under each 
head of divinity, and those which especially contain 
the nervum probandi. It would be a very perfect 
way of pursuing the study of Biblical Theology to 
follow the example of Edwards in his History of 
Redemption, of Morus in his Commentarius Exe- 
getico Historicus, and of Hengstenberg in his 
Christology, and see how the doctrines have been 
revealed in the different ages of the Church. But 
the student cannot have time to carry out this plan 
perfectly during his brief theological course. He 
must, however, seek out and render familiar to him 
the clearest and most indubitable proofs in favour ot 
each doctrine, and consider all portions of Scrip- 
ture which appear to teach any thing contrary to 
it. He should examine these passages in their 
connexions in the divine word, and be careful to 
apply them only in the way in which they were 
used by the sacred writers. Theologus in scrip- 
turis nascitur. 

But the study of theology should be philosophical 
as well as biblical. We have not only the book of 
revelation to study but also the book of nature, and 



226 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 

especially that of human nature in all its moral 
developments. The study of mental and moral 
philosophy paves the way to the study of theology. 
And whatever reviewing of his studies in this de- 
partment of knowledge the student may be able to 
go through will be of vast importance in his present 
pursuits. PhiloscpMa theologies ancillatur. Much 
of the reasoning in theology must be founded on the 
known nature and properties of intelligent beings, 
upon those laws of mind which it is the province of 
philosophy, intellectual and moral, to teach. All 
knowledge of this kind the student will prize, and 
will allow philosophy to be the handmaid to reve- 
lation, but not its mistress. The Bible must rule. 
The Bible is the only religion of Protestants. He 
that handles doctrines metaphysically only, neglect- 
ing the sure word of prophecy, is presumptuous, 
and dishonours the direct teaching of the Spirit of 
God. He that avoids wholly that light which is re- 
flected upon our state and duties from a considera- 
tion of what man is in his present state, neglects a 
source of light and knowledge to which the inspired 
writers often appeal. 

To these sources of information the History of 
Doctrines is to be added. By this we obtain 
many advantages both in the discovery and exposi- 
tion of the truth. We learn by this means how the 
technical language of theology arose in consequence 
of the many controversies that have existed, how 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 227 

the expressions of our creeds were framed for the 
express purpose of stating the truth in opposition 
to some error. Confidence in our church formula- 
ries will be increased. Our own views of truth will 
be made more clear, definite, and enlightened. We 
.shall be guarded against the adoption of language 
which may lead us and others into false doctrine. 
We shall be led to the reception of general and 
comprehensive views on the truths of revelation, of 
infinite value to us as students and teachers of re- 
ligion. The principal points of each sect, wherein 
they have diverged from the truth, should be un- 
derstood, the 7tq6)tov Tpevdoq, or primary error, be 
ascertained, and the best arguments brought forth 
to refute it. The Atheistic, Deistical, Materialist, 
Arian,Socinian, Pelagian, Semipelagian, Arminian, 
Synergistic, Antimonian, Hopkinsian, Roman Cath- 
olic, and other controversies may be understood in 
connection with the doctrines impugned or perverted 
by these parties and sects. And under an able, 
judicious teacher, who will cover over the whote 
ground by his lectures, the student may arrive at a 
complete knowledge of Polemic Divinity without 
making it a separate study : and, indeed, this will be 
the best way of pursuing this important branch of 
knowledge. The Germans have bestowed much 
more pains upon the history of doctrines than the 
divines of any other nation. Their theologians, 
Brettschneider and Knapp, are careful to give \is 



228 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

the history of doctrines in connection with the di w 
dactic treatment of them. Principal Hill, in his 
Lectures, has given us the hest specimens we have 
of this method we recommend, in the comparative 
view he takes of the opinions of the most important 
parties in the visible church on the various points 
of controversy. 

The student should consult his instructor ab 

TO THE AUTHORS WHICH HE SHOULD READ On the 

several subjects of study. All systems of Theology 
cover for the most part the same ground, but one 
excels on one topic, another on another, and many 
points will "be found better handled in separate 
treatises than in any system or body of Divinity. 
It is of great consequence to the student, especially 
as he is yet inexperienced in controversy, that he 
should know beforehand the creed and party to 
which any author belongs, that he may not think he 
is reading that which is scriptural and true when he 
is but reading ingenious error. To place before the 
student a host of writers on any topic, some of whom 
have exhibited the true and some the erroneous 
views, is to place him in circumstances of peril. In 
the catalogues of books to be used by students of 
Divinity, the several authors should be marked with 
some note or sign by which his sect or party in doc^ 
trine might be at once made known to the most 
inexperienced scholar. He will still have need to 
be guided by his instructor to the best and soundest 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 229 

sources of knowledge, both because he has but little 
time to consult many authors, and because to peruse 
many will perplex or mislead him. In general, we 
may speak of the early French and Swiss Divines 
as exceedingly sound and able, and as having con- 
tributed much to give form and order to our Pres- 
byterian Church, among whom we may mention 
Calvin, Francis Turretin, Pictet, Stapfer, Andrew 
Rivet, Du Moulin, and others: the Church of 
England Divines, as having contributed the most 
profound and satisfactory works in defence of divine 
revelation, as Paley, West, and the authors of the 
Boglian and Bampton Lectures : the Puritans, as 
having given us sound Theology in connection with 
warm arid vital piety, as in the case of Howe, Char- 
nock, Cartwright, and above all Owen : the Scotch, 
as having given us sound Theology, united with 
heart-felt and deeply moving views of divine truth, 
as in the case of the Erskines, Fisher, Boston, 
Traille, Scougal, Halyburton, Rutherford : the 
modern Germans give us system, literature, criti- 
cism, history, but, alas! the spirit of Luther and 
Melancthon are too often wanting among them. 
The divines of our own country need not be char- 
acterized, they are sufficiently known. We may 
place Edwards in his own department over against 
any divine which Europe can boast. 

The student should have a great regard for the 
Symbolical Books of his own Church. The 
20 



230 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the Presby- 
terian Church should be ever before the young 
scholar who expects to labour in the ministry within 
its bounds. Every expression in them was deliber- 
ately adopted by the wisest men. Every declaration 
stands opposed to some great error which has pre- 
vailed in the visible church, and the whole is to be 
regarded as the work not simply of the men who 
composed it, but of the great body of divines pro- 
fessing the true doctrines in all periods of the church 
since religious controversy began. That book could 
not have been composed in the first ages by any 
mere man. It could not have received its form, nor 
obtained its language at any earlier period. For it 
could not have been written as it now is till Chris- 
tianity had passed through the many controversies 
which it has experienced, and its doctrines been 
gifted by innumerable ingenious opponents, and 
come forth from every contest more strongly af- 
firmed, more clearly and irrefragably stated and 
defined. After his investigations, then, or during 
them, he should examine every passage of the 
standards of the church bearing upon his doctrine, 
compare them with the opinions he derives from the 
various sources to which he has applied, and be 
guided by those standards in his own affirmations 
©f the truth. 

The student will not be afraid of free inquiry after 
truth. But he must remember that "free think- 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 231 

ing" AND FREE SPEAKING HAVE BEEN GREATLY IDOL- 
IZED and abused. Free discussion is the god some 
men worship. But he deludes his worshippers worse 
than any pagan idol. Young men, and especially 
those of our own land, have an itch for that which 
is novel and divergent from the old beaten track. 
But in Theology there can be nothing new. The 
first publication of divine truth was the best, for it 
was inspired, and great and wise men have not 
studied the word of God these eighteen centuries 
in vain. Every important principle in theology has 
long since been discovered. New opinions here 
always prove to be old and oft refuted heresies, re- 
vived to be again refuted after having covered their 
author with confusion and done unspeakable harm 
to the church. 

Church History should be commenced this year 
and pursued as far as time will allow. It should com- 
mence with the earliest, the antediluvian period, and 
a clear but rapid view should be taken of the condi- 
tion and form of the church from epoch to epoch till 
the birth of Christ. With the historical reading of 
the first year, all that will be necessary here will be 
to review this portion of history in some such book as 
Lampe's Synopsis Historian Sacrse et Ecclesiasti- 
cal, or if this be too brief then Spanheim's Introduc- 
tio ad Hist. Sac. The knowledge the student has 
before gained of the history of nations, literature, 
and philosophy, will be of great assistance in eccle~ 



232 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 

siastical history. As he pursues this as a separate 
study, he will be able to unite it with the knowledge 
before acquired in one harmonious whole; he will 
be careful to trace the influence of the church upon 
the civilization of the world,* the gradual change in 
its external form, and in its doctrines and inward 
life, the gradual rise of the hierarchy, the causes of 
the corruptions it underwent, the unsuccessful 
efforts repeatedly made for its reformation, &c. As 
he approaches modern times he will find history 
becoming more and more clear, more and more like 
the history of his own people. From the Reforma- 
tion downward he will be especially careful to trace 
the rise of the several sects and denominations 
which now prevail, and although he may not find 
it practicable, at this stage of his studies, he will 
not rest satisfied till he shall have obtained a clear 
view of the history of the churches of Protestant 
Switzerland, France, Holland, England, Scotland, 
Ireland, and America. The history of his own 
church he will deem especially interesting and im- 
portant. It will not be in his power now to read 
the larger works on the history of the church. His 
teacher will do him a service if he occasionally gives 
out topics for historical investigation, on which he 
is to prepare himself by writing. In these the stu- 
dent should be directed to the more copious histo- 
rians, and to the original sources of information, as 

* See Guizot's History of Civilization. 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 233 

to the fathers and the councils.* Besides the two 
brief but comprehensive courses of history already 
mentioned, which may also be found in English 
translations, Mosheim in Murdock's translation, 
with the Notes of the Translator, read in connec- 
tion with Milner, who gives the history of the true 
church, opens to the student the best brief course of 
historical reading he can pursue. Neander's His- 
tory of the Early Planting of Christianity, D'Au- 
bigne's History of the Reformation, Smedly's His- 
tory of the Reformed Church of France, Cook's 
and Hetherington's History of the Church of Scot- 
land, Bogue and Bennet's History of the Dissenters, 
and Brooks's Life of the Puritans, are important to 
the candidate for the ministry in the Presbyterian 
Church, to which he should add Dr. Hodge's Docu- 
mentary History of the Presbyterian Church in 
America. 

The course of Biblical and Exegetical The- 
ology should be further pursued. Portions of Job, 
Ezekiel, Isaiah, and the Book of Daniel may be 
read, and the student should, in connection with 
these books, investigate the subject of prophecy. 
Proper books to be used for this purpose are 
Horseley's Sermons on Prophecy, Hengstenberg's 

* Euseb. Hist. EccL, The Magdeburg Centuries, Baro- 
nius Annals, Labbaeus and Cosart, and Harduin Concilia, 
etG. 

20* 



234 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

Christology, Hurd and Newton on the Prophecies, 
Witsius de Prophetis in his Miscellanea Sacra, 
Maimonides Moreh Nebhochim. 

In the New Testament, the more important epis- 
tles maybe read, Romans and Hebrews, if not read 
the first year, or the epistles to the Corinthians, 
Galatians, Thessalonians, or the two of Peter. 
The more thorough the student is in their study the 
more profitable to himself. 

He may extend his readings in the Classics to 
the Phsedon of Plato, and the Satires of Juvenal, 
or other portions at the advice of his teacher. 

He should commence also, if practicable, the read- 
ing of the Greek and Latin Fathers. 

The same daily practice of reviewing mentally, 
or talking over with a friend, the studies of the day 
in the evening, as was recommended the last year, 
is recommended now. It will refresh the memory, 
and often open new trains of thought of great 
interest. 

TEIIRD YEAR. 

In this, the closing year of his Theological course, 
the studies of the preceding years should be con- 
tinued, and the entire course brought to a comple- 
tion. The remaining topics of Doctrinal The- 
ology should be handled, and Church History be 
continued down to our times. 

In Hebrew Exegesis he may read the Mes- 
sianic Prophecies of the Old Testament, (taking 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 235 

Hengstenberg's Christology for a guide,) or the 
evangelical prophet Zechariah. 

In the Greek Testament, the Apocalypse of 
John, or the Acts of the Apostles, and the pastoral 
epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus. All these 
should be read critically, and the three last with a 
special regard to the various points of pastoral and 
practical Theology which may be illustrated by 
them. 

The fourth department of Theology, in the gen- 
eral division we gave in the outset, should claim the 
principal attention of the student this year, viz., 
Practical or Pastoral Theology. In this study 
the student learns to apply that knowledge he has 
acquired informer years, in the various methods the 
public office which he seeks may seem to require. 
It is a branch of study in which the practice of pas- 
toral duties alone makes perfect. Still it has its 
theoretic principles, and the recorded experience of 
others will greatly assist the student in shaping his 
own course. 

The office of Pastor makes him both a ruler and 
a teacher in the church of Christ. Hence the student 
will turn his attention now to the study of the Poli- 
ty and Practical Government of the Church. 
He should first understand the theory of church 
government in general, and then bend his mind to 
the investigation of the primitive and scriptural 
form of the church. Good introductory views may 
be obtained from Calvin's Institutes, Dick, Pictet, 



236 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

Hill, Turretine, and the first Book of Hooker's Ec- 
clesiastical Polity. It will soon be perceived by the 
student that the various forms of government which 
prevail in states have also prevailed in the church. 
We have in the Papacy the Monarchical, in the 
Prelacy the Aristocratical, in Presbytery the Re- 
publican, in Independency the Democratical, forms 
of government. The primitive, the scriptural form, 
is that which the student should seek, and of course 
his great book will be the Scriptures, and the testi- 
mony of Scripture he will compare with the form of 
the church in the two first centuries after Christ. 
A few only of the most valuable authors can now 
be mentioned on the Polity of the Church. 

In favour of the Papacy the great writer is Car- 
dinal Bellarmine. In favour of Episcopacy, Richard 
Hooker, in his Ecclesiastical Polity. In favour of 
Presbytery, Gillespie's Aaron's Rod Blossoming, 
and Assertion of the Discipline of the Church of 
Scotland, and Rutherford's Due Right of Presbyte- 
ries, and Jus Divinum, by the London ministers, 
are among the best old works. Of the modern 
writings the best and most serviceable to us are Dr. 
Miller's book on the Constitution of the Christian 
Ministry, and his work on the Ruling Elder, and 
the works of Rev. Dr. Smyth, of Charleston, S. C, 
on the Polity of the Church. 

On Independency we have Cotton's Power of the 
Keys, and Owen's Treatises on Church Govern- 
ment, though this last writer was more of a Presbyte- 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 237 

rian than an Independent. More modern books are 
Upham's Ratio Disciplinse, Dr. Hawes's Tribute 
to the Memory of the Pilgrims, Punchard's View 
of Congregationalism, and History of Congrega- 
tionalism, and the Order of the Congregational 
Churches. At this stage of his studies, however, the 
student cannot dwell long upon this interesting part 
of Theology. He must defer a full course of read- 
ing till he enters the ministry. He should still seize 
upon every opportunity to acquaint himself with 
the forms and government of the church to which 
he himself belongs. Nor should he allow himself 
long to be ignorant of the entire course of argu- 
ment, fro and con, by which this form has been 
maintained or impugned. 

Another and the principal branch of Pastoral 
Theology is Homiletics, or the theory and art of 
preaching. In Protestant churches preaching is 
regarded as the great business of the minister of 
the gospel; and with great propriety. It is the di- 
vinely appointed means of salvation. To be a good 
preacher requires a well trained and well stored 
mind, and a heart thoroughly imbued with piety, 
and taught by the Spirit of God. All the depart- 
ments of knowledge must contribute their share to 
the preacher's success. The student need expect 
no new principles of rhetoric here. Yet he should 
review the whole subject of rhetorical rules and 
principles, by means of Campbell's Philosophy of 



238 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

Rhetoric, or Whately. He should also inform him- 
self as to the best methods of Sermonizing, as they 
have been ascertained by observation and experi- 
ence. For this purpose Dr. Porters Lectures on 
Homiletics and Style will be of great assistance, 
as also Fenelon's Dialogues on Eloquence, and 
Doddridge's Lectures on Preaching, Fordyce's 
Art of Preaching, and Sturtevant's Preacher's 
Manual, Cotton Mather's Student and Preacher, 
and Bridges on the Christian Ministry. 

No minute rules can be laid down to guide the 
young preacher. His own good sense and correct 
taste must be his guides. He must vary his method, 
sometimes adopting the analytic, sometimes the 
synthetic, and be guided at all times by the nature 
and spirit of the passage taken as his text, and 
according to the design he has in view. He should 
not imitate nor borrow. In Elocution he should be 
correct, simple, grave, earnest, tender, winning. 
The writers above mentioned and Dr. Porter, in his 
Analysis of Vocal Inflection, give many judicious 
hints for the preacher. He should beware of imi- 
tating the manner of others. Because Melancthon 
carried one of his shoulders higher than the other, 
and gestured awkwardly with it, some of his ad- 
mirers did the same. Herder says he has heard 
many a preacher sing out their sermons just be- 
cause their professor had a singing voice, and when, 
in consequence of a disease of the throat, he at one 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 239 

period of his life was accustomed to drink water 
from a glass in the pulpit, all his admirers through- 
out the land followed his example in the most rev- 
erential manner. And Cicero makes mention of an 
orator celebrated for pathos and a wry face, and 
says that another who strove to imitate him caught 
his wry face to perfection, but not his pathos. The 
young preacher should pay especial attention to his 
first sermons. Let him write on plain subjects, but 
well. The first efforts of this kind leave their im- 
press on the mind. They often form the mould into 
which all its subsequent efforts are cast, and the 
judicious student will aim that they be as perfect 
compositions, and as well suited to the great ends of 
preaching, as much and prayerful labour can make 
them. Dr. Chalmers's recipe for filling a church is, 
to fill the pulpit well. Preaching should be scrip- 
tural, not poetic and strained; experimental, result- 
ing from the dealings of the Holy Spirit with the 
preacher's own soul. The Bible, and books in prac- 
tical divinity, and the lives and spiritual conflicts of 
good men, should be much studied by the young 
minister. 

To improve himself in speaking and writing, 
the conscientious student will seize upon every op- 
portunity the Seminary affords, and if he has done 
this during the two preceding years, composition 
and public speaking are no new thing with him. 

As to Litdrgics, which is ordinarily considered 



240 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT. 

a branch of Pastoral Theology, most denominations 
of Christians in this country need no special instruc- 
tion, since in most public prayer is free, and uncon- 
strained by forms. Still there is great need that 
the student and young preacher bestow especial 
attention on this most important part of the public 
worship of God. There is a " gift of pray er" which 
all do not possess, but which is essential to the per- 
fection of the ministry ; and in attaining it, thought, 
care, and a properly directed study, are requisite. 
The faults of public prayer are well pointed out 
by Dr. Porter, in his Lectures on Public Prayer ; the 
method, and much else that is judicious and valua- 
ble on the subject, may be found in Watts on 
Prayer. Prayer should be appropriate, scriptural, 
comprehensive, breathed forth from a pious heart, 
and of suitable length. The congregation should 
be interested in this part of divine worship, not 
wearied. 

Psalmody and Hymnology, or the public praise 
of God, may well claim the attention of the young 
minister. Should his lot be cast among that branch 
of the Presbyterian Church known as Seceders, he 
will have need to investigate the controversy as 
to Psalmody between them and other Christians. 
He may read Ruffin and Latta in favour of human 
composures in divine worship, and Gordon and 
M'Master against them, and in favour of a literal 
version of the Psalms alone. 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT* 241 

Catechetics, or the method of teaching the 
young and servants in a catechetical way, is a branch 
of pastoral duty which cannot be taught by rules. 
It can only be learned by practice. It is an important 
but neglected duty. System and punctuality are re- 
quisite on the part of the pastor ; and as to method , 
that must be supplied by his own mind, enlightened 
as it is by all the education through which it has 
passed, both in human and divine learning* Some 
useful hints on the subject may be found in the Re- 
port drawn up by Dr. Miller, and presented to the 
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in 
1840, which constitutes No. 48 of the publications 
of the Assembly's Board. The Pastoral Care, the 
care of souls, should also claim the thoughts of the 
student as he approaches the ministry. His profes- 
sors will doubtless take care to see him informed as 
to the general principles that should guide him* 
But he will derive signal benefit by the perusal of 
such books as Bishop Burnet on the Pastoral Care 3 
Baxter's Reformed Pastor, Mason's Student and 
Pastor, George Herbert's Country Parson, Bridges 
on the Christian Ministry, Smith's Lectures on the 
Sacred Office. 

Other works on the general subject included in 
Pastoral or Practical Theology are, Dr. Miller's 
Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits, Dr. Hum- 
phrey's Letters to his Son, Claude's Essay on the 
Composition of a Sermon, Bishop Wilkin's Eccle* 

21 



242 DIRECTIONS TO A STUDENT, 

siastes, John Edwards's Preacher, John Jennings on 
Preaching Christ, Watts's Rules of Ministerial con- 
duct, Doddridge on the Neglect of Souls, Address to 
Students in Divinity 3 by John Brown of Hadding- 
ton, Thoughts on the Composition and Delivery of 
a Sermon, by Dr. Gregory, Reyzar on the Art of 
Preaching, Erasmi Ecclesiastes, Ringelius de Ra- 
tione Studiorum, Chrysostom on the Priesthood, 
This list might be much more extended, but we for- . 
bear. Several of the above treatises have been 
collected and published under the title of Preacher's 
Manual, and in another collection under the title 
of Young Minister's Companion. 

The Classical Studies of the student this year 
may be connected with the department of Rhet- 
oric, and he may read the Institutes of duinctilian. 
and review" Horace De Arte Poetica. Longinus 
de Sublimitate may be read in the Greek. Or he 
may read some portions of the Fathers, as Augus- 
tine de Civitate Dei, and selections from Lactantius, 
Chrysostom, and Basil. 

In conclusion we remark, that much of the toil of 
this course may be abridged to the student by the 
lectures of his professors, while he is connected 
with the Theological Seminary, but there will still 
be enough besides to fill the three years time with 
ample employment. If this course cannot be com* 
pleted in three years, it should nevertheless be 
carried on until it is completed. 

But even this is but the beginning of theology. 



DIRECTIONS TO A STUDEJtfT. 243 

There are profounder abysses and loftier heights 
than his thoughts have yet reached. He must 
press on continually in the quest of knowledge, and 
be ever filling his urn at the fountain of eternal 
truth. 

The counsels we have before given, as to the re- 
view of the day's employment at the close of each 
day, should still be followed, and with the review the 
mind should also turn in upon itself, and examine 
into its own state before God, applying for its own 
instruction, correction, and reproof in righteous- 
ness, all it has learned, that so the affections may 
be cultivated with the understanding, and the whole 
man rise together toward the standard of perfec- 
tion. Mere learning, without piety, is of little avail 
in the Church of God. A consciousness of the di- 
vine presence, and of our responsibility to our Lord 
and Head, should ever keep us from impertinent 
trifling over our sacred pursuits. 

Seu vigilo intentus studiis, seu dormio semper 
Judicis extremi nostra tuba personet aures. 

Theological Seminary, 
Columbia, S. C, July, 1844, 



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